PDP bemoans Plateau killings, blames Buhari, APC

Agency ReporterJune 25, 2018

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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has decried the gruesome killing of over a hundred innocent Nigerians in communities in Plateau State by marauders on Sunday.

The PDP said if President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) had heeded wise counsel by the PDP and Nigerians, such killings would have been averted.

In a statement on Monday by its spokesman,Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP insisted that President 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.

“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 have 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”, the statement added.

The PDP said if the APC and its Federal Government had channeled the same energy and resources they have deployed to fighting perceived opponents towards fighting marauders and insurgents, the security challenge would not have been as devastating as it is today.

Continuing, the opposition party said, “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.

“The PDP particularly 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 this Plateau attack.

“Furthermore, the PDP calls on the APC and its government to come out clear on what they stand to gain by allowing these killings and bloodletting to fester, as if the lives of our citizens have become worthless.

“Finally, while the PDP commiserates with the families of the victims of the attack, we totally reject these killings and demand an immediate concrete step to get to the root of the matter and end this bloodletting in our land”.