Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
The Benue State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has lampooned the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government and the All Progressives Congress (APC) for what it tagged its refusal to arrest and prosecute leaders of Miyetti Allah after they claimed responsibility for the killings in Benue State.
The PDP, in a statement signed by its state Publicity Secretary and Chairman, Publicity Sub-Committee, Benue PDP State Campaign Organisation, Bemgba Iortyom, said the APC, by that act, deserves nothing from the electorate but rejection in 2019.
“A government that has refused to bring to book criminal groups which openly claim responsibility for crimes against humanity committed within its territorial jurisdiction, such as Miyetti Allah has been doing over the years, such a government and its sponsoring political platform, in this case APC, deserves only one response from the suffering masses who have been at the receiving end of the actions and inaction of such a failed government, and that is a resounding rejection at the 2019 elections.”
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While noting that the most sacrosanct duty of the Federal Government under the control of APC is to provide security for the lives and properties of Nigerian citizens, Iortyom lamented that, “yet, this is a duty the ruling party has sadly and tragically thrown to the dogs, leaving helpless citizens in states like Benue at the mercy of murderous marauding Fulani herdsmen and other forms of crime and terror.
“Our sanitising take is that, APC in this regard which touches directly on the security of lives and properties of the citizens of the state, has once again, through its minions, shown the characteristic lack of sense of responsibility and duty the party is known for.”
Iortyom added that no responsible political party in control of the federal government would abdicate its duty to safeguard the lives and properties of its citizens and rather seek to take refuge under a pathetic blaming of the opposition as being perpetrators of crime.