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.”
No comments:
Post a Comment