Dr Mike Omotosho
The national chairman of the Labour Party, Dr Mike Omotosho, has condemned the constant killings in Nigeria’s Plateau State, noting that the Federal Government and the governed must together rise up against the treachery of the murderous herdsmen, in order to put a stop to senseless killings in the country.
He said this in a statement made available to journalusts in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to him: “Unless the government, and we the governed rise up and unite in solidarity, to reject the treachery of murderous herdsmen, marauding terrorists and others of similar ill, to charge our security forces and hold them to account by earning their stripes, to be our brother’s keeper and the fellow-defender of our countrymen, this negative tide and wanton loss of lives may not be nipped in the bud as quickly as required.”
Omotosho equally urged the citizens of Plateau and other empathetic Nigerians to be calm and not take the law into their hands, but to use this difficult moment to respond to one another in love and mutual respect.
He insisted that securing our neighborhood should not just be left to the police and security forces as it must become the responsibility of us all, watching out for the lives and property of the community, like they were ours.
Speaking remorsely, Omotosho said “I am greatly saddened by the incident in Plateau where over 150 Nigerian lives were lost to the attacks of armed bandits.
“This is indeed highly worrisome, unfortunate and pathetic, we are pained by this recent attack that affected over nine villages in the state.”
He commiserated with the Governor of Plateau State, Simon Bako Lalong and the people of the state on their loss over this heartless and ungodly genocide, saying such inhumanity should not be heard or experienced anywhere within our boarders.
He said “Whilst it is easy to apportion blames in a most difficult period of this nature, it is pertinent for us all to honor the memories of the dead by conclusively investigating why and how such large scale atrocities were successfully committed, and how in times of peace, about 200 lives were bludgeoned to death in our nation.”
He therefore called on the Federal Government to, as a matter of immediate national security, deploy every resources towards investigating and bringing the perpetrators of such heinous crimes to account.
Adding: “More importantly, the administration needs to convey a stakeholder’s summit, wherein the security of our nation, particularly, internal security, would be sole agenda. As things stand, it does appear like our security forces, the Army, Police and other forces are stretched thin across different zones of this nation.
“This has paralyzed their ability to be proactive in deploying intelligence and tactical assets to prevent bloodshed of such scale and magnitude of our countrymen.
“The National Security Adviser (NSA), Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Chief of Defense Staff, Inspector General of Police, and others qualified guardians of our national security should rise up to this challenge and seek to honor the dead by ensuring such tragedies never happen anywhere within our nation ever again”, He added.
Omotosho warned that, as 2019 draw even closer, these gruesome killings threatens our fragile democracy and the very bond that we share as a nation – our diversity.
In his words: “Nigerians should also reject without reservation every group or individuals who seek to profit off this carnage and particularly those who fester spirit of division, violence or segregation. Surely, our country will arise from this as one nation, undivided, bound as always in freedom, peace and unity”.
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