Follow Us on Google
By Emma Njoku
Former vice president and presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, have come under heavy attack over their statements on the recent killing of the defenceless people of Gbeji in Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State by suspected Fulani herdsmen.
Convener of the Benue Republicans, Chief Peter Shande, in a statement, yesterday, described Shehu’s statement as “a mockery, insensitive and irresponsible,” stating that “the innocent people of Gbeji and, indeed, other parts of the state do not have any recorded instance of political disagreement with President Buhari, as he claimed he has with the Governor Samuel Ortom.
Shande advised the presidential aide “to stop defending Buhari’s inability or deliberate refusal to protect the lives of Nigerians.” He also faulted Atiku’s comment which he alleged was aimed at mocking the victims and aggravating their pains.
He said: “Atiku’s statement on the senseless killing of innocent people in Gbeji is not only insane and ethnocentric, but insults the sensibilities of the Nigerians. It is disappointing that Atiku, a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, has refused to detach himself from ethnic sentiments even in the wake of killing of the defenceless citizens, but chose tribal loyalty and political correctness to mock the victims.
“It is rather expected that when people are being slaughtered and displaced in times such as this, people are expected to restrain from further comments that are so sensitive that would aggravate the pains of the victims.
“It is, however, sad that despite the sustained onslaught of the marauding Fulani herdsmen on the people of Benue with tacit support from the Buhari led Federal Government, the response from Atiku Abubakar, who bears the revered title of Zege Mule u Tiv, to dish out such inane, ethnocentric and venomous mockery statement,” he stated.
Shande, who further condemned Shehu’s remarks on the incident, said his assertion that president Buhari and governor Ortom have often disagreed on political issues is elusive, meaningless and had no relationship with the unprovoked killing of the people of Gbeji in Benue State by Fulani herdsmen.
He said: “There is no recorded report that the people of Gbeji have ever disagreed on political issues with President Buhari, that his federal government should not protect them from the rampaging killer Fulani herdsmen.
“Does Shehu want Nigerians to believe that the killing of innocent Nigerians all over the country by the Fulani killers is as a result of Buhari’s political disagreement with the various state governors?
“Is Shehu also confirming to Nigerians that killing and destruction are the ways of life of his brother Fulani herdsmen, since he warned that they should not be attacked because of their way of life?”
“This further confirms Shehu’s usual attempts to cover up the president’s failure or deliberate refusal to protect the lives of Nigerian citizens.”
