President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday slammed perpetrators of violence across the country, saying their criminal acts do not have any “religious or ethnic colouration.” The President stated this at a stakeholders meeting held at Government House, Rayfield Jos.
He was in Jos to commiserate with the government and people of the state over the renewed violence, leading to the killing of over a hundred persons.
“The intelligence report I am getting is that the casualties in Zamfara are more than Taraba and Benue put together.
So, the question of ethnicity and religion seems to be almost irrelevant.
“It is just the bad people amongst us that are making it impossible for us to pursue our legitimate cause of living,” he said.
The President said as the Commander- in-Chief of the Armed Forces, he will continue to direct the security organs of government to ensure that the security challenges are curtailed.
He urged the traditional, religious and community leaders to complement government efforts by persuading their constituencies to tolerate one another for peace and unity to reign in the country.
“I will continue to pressurise members of the law enforcement agencies directly under me by the Constitution as the Commanderin Chief. About eight days ago, we had five hours security meeting of the service chiefs and the Inspector-General of Police.
“What happened here in Jos is very bad.
The question of leadership, from your household to whatever you are, is justice.
The bottom line is justice.
That is why wherever I go, I will always appeal to the leadership of the communities, the law enforcement agencies to always have control of their constituencies,” he said. Condemning the latest clashes in Plateau state, President Buhari, who was accompanied to the meeting by the host Governor, Simon Lalong, and his counterparts from Kebbi and Niger states, Atiku Bagudu and Abubakar Sani-Bello respectively, condoled with the affected families, the government and people of the state, and wished those injured a speedy recovery.
The President also used the occasion of the interactive session attended by traditional rulers, community and religious leaders, representatives of youth, women and trade union groups, security chiefs and some top government officials, to appeal to Nigerians to avoid inflammatory utterances that endanger peace or promote conflicts.
“Whatever is being given to the media, we have to be very responsible about it.
Take for instance the situation in Benue.
The Benue subsistence farmer knows that the Nigerian cattle herder that he knows doesn’t carry nothing more than a stick, occasionally sometimes something to cut grass to feed his cattle.
“But the present herder, I am told, carries AK47 and people are even blaming me for not talking to them because may be (they say) I look like one of them.
There is some injustice in these aspersions.
It is noteworthy that many Nigerians still acknowledge that despite the security challenges, this administration has made notable successes in the security sector,” he said. Lalong responds In his remarks, Governor Lalong blamed parties in the conflict in the state for reneging on their agreement to maintain peace, leading to the recent upsurge in violence, after nearly three years of calm and normalcy in the state.
He said: “We are concerned as a state that the sophisticated weapons used in these attacks, from the evidences on the ground and the narrations of victims, are not those conventional to our environment for self-defence, but reflective of a terrorist invasion.
It, therefore, demands a justified response like that which was undertaken to address the Boko Haram insurgency.” The governor also requested that given the number of villages completely ravaged in the violence, the federal government should establish an Emergency Special Intervention Fund to help reconstruct the destroyed communities.
He told the meeting that renewed attacks had regrettably opened up space for all manners of criminality by criminal elements and conflict merchants, who engaged daily in cattle rustling, theft, banditry, gun running and other forms of crimes amongst our citizens.
Lalong said the blocking of roads and killings of innocent commuters will not be tolerated, and that security operatives have taken drastic measures to ensure they apprehend any youth involved in this dastardly act.
He appreciated the President’s quick response with the deployment of artillery wares, Air Patrol Combat Helicopters, Intelligence Surveillance and Recognizance Air Craft as well as the deployment of a Special Police Intervention Force to be supervised by the DIG Operations The governor requested the President to direct security agencies to immediately commence arms mop up in those areas of conflicts.
“We subscribe to a houseto-house and community-tocommunity search for illegal weapons that have been stock piled in Plateau state.
“The current directive of the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to all police formations to mop up illegal arms must have the activity time-line for the measurement of compliance.
“This, your Excellency, should be done ahead of any resettlement or reintegration plans into communities that have been forcefully evicted and taken over by these armed herdsmen,” he added Presentations and recommendations were made by the state Chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Alhaji Nura Abdullahi, and the representative of Berom community, Mrs. Florence Jambol, on engendering peace in the communities.