By Valentine Amanze
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has decried the Sunday gruesome killing of over 150 innocent Nigerians in communities in Plateau State by marauders.
The party also said that if President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) had adhered to wise counsel by the PDP and Nigerians, such killings would have been averted.
The PDP, via its National Publicity Secretary,Kola Ologbondiyan, insisted that Buhari’s failure to address and bring to book, the perpetrators of killings and bloodletting in various parts of the country was emboldening insurgents and marauders to further attack and murder defenseless Nigerians.
According to the party, “It is most disheartening that compatriots are being killed daily because those saddled with the responsibility of safeguarding lives, care less about the wellbeing and safety of the people, as they focus only on their ill-fated 2019 re-election bid.
“Even when the Zamfara State governor, Abdul-aziz Yari, cried out that he was overwhelmed by the spate of insecurity and killings, the Federal Government gave him an ineffectual response laced with their trite blame game.
“We urge Nigerians to note that since the escalation of killings and bloodletting in various parts of the country, particularly in Plateau, Benue, Taraba, Kogi, Adamawa, Yobe, Borno, Zamfara, Kaduna and other states, no concrete steps had been taken by the APC administration to strengthen and fortify the security architecture in the troubled areas.
“Instead, what we are witnessing are inactions, impotent assurances and blame games that have continued to compromise security in the areas thereby creating opening for marauders to continue to ravage our people.”
It pointed out that if the APC and its Federal Government had channeled the same energy and resources they deployed to fighting perceived opponents towards fighting marauders and insurgents, the insecurity would not have been as devastating as Nigerians have it today.
“We now find ourselves in a situation where government attaches no value to the lives of Nigerians so much so that top security officials flout presidential orders and even abandon their security duties in troubled areas while the President, as the commander-in-chief, takes no strong steps to reorder his parade,” it stated.
The PDP said that it agrees with Nigerians that if the over 7,000 security personnel, police surveillance helicopters and Armoured Personnel Carriers were not withdrawn from their primary security duties and drafted to be part of the APC national convention, the marauders would not have had a field day in the Plateau attack.
Besides, the PDP called on the APC and its government to come out clear on what they stand to gain by allowing the killings and bloodletting to fester, as if the lives of citizens had become worthless.
It further said that while the it commiserated with the families of the victims of the attack, it rejected the killings and demanded an immediate step to get to the root of the matter and end the bloodletting in the land.