Obasanjo Visits Plateau, Tasks FG on Killings …Youth CAN, plateau youths, women protest killings …Military parades suspects

 

Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, and Senate President Bukola Saraki on Wednesday separately visited Jos, the Plateau State capital, to commiserate with the governor and people over the recent killings.

In Jos, Obasanjo urged the federal and state governments to identity the root cause(s) of insecurity and deal with them so that people would get reprieve from the incessant violence plaguing the land.

He admitted that there were problems during his time in government but “not in this magnitude” and believed solutions can be found to address the challenges.

According to him, “I'm here to express my condolences. What happened is very sad that in this day and age, this type of barbaric act is taking place in our country. I have suggested and I will say it again that we should find out the root cause of this problem and deal with it.

“There must be remote and immediate cause, and if we deal with it, we are not going to be multiplying condolence visits. I believe that any human problem has human solution; I do hope and plead with the government at the federal level; those of you in states and even local government level to join hands even at the community level to find the causes and deal with them permanently.

“We offer our condolences to the bereaved families. All we can say is that God knows the best. Even in my time, we had problems but not in this magnitude; we thought we were dealing with them as at that time but the earlier we deal with it, the better. I believe we can find solution, and we must find solution.”

 

Saraki also conveyed the condolences of the National Assembly to the people, assuring them that they would be there for the state in whatever way the state would need the National Assembly's assistance.

He called on the people to work together with the state governor to overcome the challenges, as he tasked security agencies to fish out the perpetrators of the heinous crime, urging  the governor to be fair and just in handling the situation.

Responding to Obasanjo, Lalong appreciated his coming but noted that a phone call would have sufficed.

He added: “Insecurity is not new to me; we thought we could handle it. When we came in, we quickly put up a team including, Berom and Fulani. They came out with a roadmap to proffer solutions, we adopted the recommendations and have implemented some and was in the process of implementing the remaining ones. We have done our best, we have learnt our lessons, and we will be very firm.”

Thanking Saraki and the National Assembly for identifying with the state, Lalong stressed that he was taken aback by the development especially coming from the very people who gave the government a roadmap to peace.

Meanwhile, a peaceful protest embarked upon by the youths and women wing of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) against the wanton killings was hijacked by hoodlums as it turned violent and protesters threw stones, damaging cars parked at the parking lots at the new Government House in Jos as well as some office complexes.

  The protesters had converged at the Old Airport junction and marched to the Government House but were initially prevented from gaining entry into the premises but some climbed the fence, forcing security at the gate to eventually open it.    

At the time of the protest, the governor, was visiting the victims of the attacks who are currently receiving treatment at the Jos University Teaching Hospital, JUTH.      

Meanwhile, Military Special Task Force in charge of security in the state on Wednesday paraded 17 suspects allegedly connected with the multiple attacks on villages in Barkin Ladi.

Parading the suspects at the OPSH headquarters in Jos, Media Officer of the command, Major Adam Umar, said: “These suspects we are parading here are suspects arrested in connection to the last Saturday attack in Barkin Ladi. The suspects are in two categories: three of the suspects Yahuza, Friday and Ahmed were in connection to the attack in Barkin Ladi, and the other 14 suspects are those arrested from the scene of protest and blockage of federal highways to protest against the attack in Barkin Ladi.

“We want to appeal to Nigerians to be patient and cooperative with us in our efforts to get the perpetrators of these killings, people should ignore rumours being circulated on the social media. We encourage the media to reach out to us and verify any story before publishing.”