Buhari vows to crush perpetrators of Plateau unrest, preaches peace in communities

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday night assured Nigerians his government would leave no stone unturned in the efforts to bring all persons found culpable in recent attacks in Plateau State to justice.

The President, who stated this in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, however, appealed to Nigerians to embrace peace, and unite against violence.

Buhari was reacting to recent attacks in several communities in Jos, the state capital, and other parts of the country.

He cautioned religious and community leaders against inciting residents to violence in whatever form.

The statement read: “The Presidency wishes to assure all citizens that as a government, the administration is on top of events and is moving ahead with force to crush the perpetrators of the recent incidents of unrest in Plateau State.

But to achieve success, our communities must unite against these horrific attacks. Retributive violence is not the answer.

“While these troubled communities are being reinforced with security personnel, our religious, traditional, and other community leaders must not allow the use of their spaces for the propagation of violence and incitement to violence.

“Attempts to simplify the reasons into a basic narrative may help raise donor-dollars for international NGOs, fill pages of overseas newspapers, and burnish foreign politicians’ faith credentials; but this does not increase understanding, nor offer solutions. If anything, simplistic theorising and finger-pointing make the situation worse.

“It is important both for Nigerians and the international community to appreciate that there are a multitude of factors attendant to these troubles.

There is the Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorism, as well as the spate of kidnappings for ransom, transformed by some misinformed global media into a Muslim-on-Christian threat. Yet, in reality, there are no religious connotations at all when the primary purpose of these acts is to extract money.

“Then the herder-farmer clashes. While international voices and some Nigerian politicians who seek personal gain from division declare this a matter of religion, for those involved, it is almost entirely a matter of access to water and land. Herders have moved their cattle into contact with farmers for millennia. But, increasingly, due to population pressure, escalating aridity of northern states, and climate change, they are forced to travel further south to find grazing lands.

Then, further afield in the South-East, IPOB are not struggling for freedom when they attack police stations and property, but rather committing acts of terrorism in order to steal money.

“IPOB is not defending Christians – as their highly-paid foreign lobbyists claim – when almost every citizen of those states they terrorise is uniformly Christian. Yet mistakenly, and because the lobbyists for IPOB have duped them, some misguided foreign media and politicians believe so.

“As for Nigerians, what we need is to come together. And we must do this firstly and for the most part by our own hands, by casting asunder those who seek to divide us for their own nefarious financial and political gain.”

Governors charge security agencies to fish out perpetrators of Plateau attack

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) on Sunday charged the security agencies to fish out perpetrators of the attack on travellers in Plateau State and prosecute them accordingly.

Gunmen had in the early hours of Saturday killed 22 people during an attack on a travelling party along Rukuba Road, Jos North local government area of Plateau State.

The victims were returning from Bauchi State where they attended an event marking the beginning of the Islamic New Year when the gunmen struck.

The hoodlums also abducted several passengers during the attack.

In a statement signed by NGF’s Head of Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, the governors described the killings as barbaric and senseless.

The statement read: “These dastardly actions of Nigeria’s once peaceful locals which have resulted in unwarranted and needless deaths diminish us all as a people and pulls our country down to the deepest recesses of the absence of civilisation.

“They also cause all kinds of reprisal killings and injurious interactions that does nobody any good.

“The Forum views with extreme disgust the horrible and thoughtless loss of precious lives and declares unequivocally that it must stop forthwith.”

Lekki Killings: PENGASSAN, NUPENG threaten to withdraw services, wants FG to produce perpetrators

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has threatened to withdraw its services nationwide to honour Nigerian youth killed during the use of live bullets on peaceful #endSARS protesters in Lekki, on Tuesday night; if the government failed to immediately produce the perpetrators of the dastardly act.

Both PENGASSAN and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) condemned the killing of the innocent people and declared that their hearts bleed for Nigerian youths.

PENGASSAN said in a statement signed by its President, Comrade, Festus Osifo and the General Secretary, Comrade, Lumumba Okugbawa, that it would hold its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting with a view to withdraw its services across the country.

“We hereby call on the Government of President, Mohammadu Buhari, to provide adequate security for the protesters in line with democratic norms and to immediately produce the perpetrators of the dastardly act; failure of which we will convene an emergency meeting of our National Executive Council (NEC)to review the happenings in the Nation with the view of withdrawing our services Nationwide.” The union said.

According to PENGASSAN, “in view of the gruesome killings of unarmed protesters by armed Military personnels as seen on social media, at the Lekki toll gate last Tuesday night (20/10/2020), the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has viewed these images of shootings of peaceful #endsars protesters not just at Lekki toll gate but all over the country with sadness, heavy hearts and deep concerns for our Nation.

“Without mincing words, we vehemently say that this unfortunate incident falls short of any standard of civilization globally of handling peaceful protest in any democratic system.

“Our hearts bleed for innocent Nigerians who lost their lives or got injured in this senseless and inhumane action of the armed security agents of the government. Our deepest condolences, thoughts and prayers go to the families of the victims as well.

“As an institution that indulges in peaceful protest on a regular basis, there is a renewed sense of insecurity with the new tactics employed by the men of our armed forces. We are not against government arresting any hoodlum who may want to hide under the guise of the peaceful protest to perpetuate violence but to unleash this level of cruelty on peaceful and harmless protesters who were holding the National flag, singing the National anthem in demonstration of their belief in the course of the country by killing and injuring them is highly condemnable.”

It added: “The President and Commander in Chief of the Nigeria Armed Forces must seize this opportunity to provide uncommon leadership and stir the ship of this nation to safety.

“PENGASSAN stands with you at these trying times as a threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Also, the leadership of NUPENG said it viewed the gory images of Tuesday night (20/10/2020) shootings of peaceful #endsars protesters at Lekki toll gate with sadness, heavy hearts and deep concerns.

Without any iota of doubt, the union pointed out that the unfortunate incident fell short of any acceptable minimum global and civilized standards of managing peaceful Protest in any democratic system.

The statement signed by NUPENG President, Comrade Williams Akporeha and the General Secretary, Comrade Afolabi Olawale, said: “Our hearts bleed for our youths who lost their lives or got injured in that senseless action of the armed security agents of government.

Our deepest thoughts and prayers are equally extended to their families as well.

“We ask our members nationwide to stay calm and safe at their various workplaces and be on alert as the leadership reviews the situation.”


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