The President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has pleaded with the people of Benue State, North Central of the country, not to play into the hands of the agents of disunity who are sponsoring and carrying out killings in parts of the country.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, made this known in a statement he issued in Abuja on Thursday copy of which was sent to The DEFENDER.
According to the statement, “The repeated acts of mass killings and destruction in parts of the country and Benue State, in particular, point to the evil design of enemies of peace and unity who have desperately been trying to bring the country to this sorry point: a brother killing brother, a neighbor killing a neighbor and a community attacking and killing members of another community.”
The President strongly warned citizens against playing into the hands of the agents of disunity.
President Buhari said those behind the Church attack that left 18 people dead, including two Priests, did not mean well for Nigeria and peaceful coexistence.
He said, “The revenge attacks that followed in which 11 members of the Hausa communities were killed are part of the agenda of the bandits and their sponsors to turn Nigerians against one another. We must resist all temptation to fall into this laid out plan.”
Malam Shehu said the President was greatly pained by the persistent violence and the total disregard for the sanctity of life by “these hideously evil people who have no iota of respect for humanity, decency and civilization.”
The President reiterated that the government would not rest on its oars in its determination to fish out these barbarous mass murderers and their clandestine sponsors.
President Buhari equally assured Nigerians that measures being put in place by the government would, sooner than later, bring to an end, these extremely brutal and wanton killings.
