4th May, 2021
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
President Muhammadu Buhari has reacted to the killing of 11 people in Benue State and the reprisal attack on innocent people in the usual way.
The president strongly condemned the killing as he has done severally whenever wanton killings occur in any part of the country.
“I totally condemn this latest unprovoked violence and counter-attacks on innocent people that had nothing to do with the cause of the violence,” the President said in a statement by his spokesman, Garba Shehu.
Buhari also deplored the killing of innocent people in Anambra State by mobs, saying that “in both cases innocent people were killed through no fault of theirs.”
“Violence on innocent people by anybody and any group is unacceptable and indefensible.
“Hate and bigotry have eaten so deeply and violates the sanctity of life. If we allow this culture of violence to go unchecked, such mobs would destroy law and order,” he said.
The President urged leaders of ethnic and religious groups “to play their own roles constructively in controlling their followers or members, in order to support the government’s efforts for sustainable peace.”
Buhari cautioned Nigerians against the “temptations of taking the law into their hands in the name of revenge because there are no winners in the cycle of violence, only losers.”
The President sent his commiserations to the families of the bereaved and the governments and people of Benue and Anambra States.
He also commended the police and other law enforcement agencies for their prompt response in averting the escalation of the violence, urging them to put in every effort to apprehend perpetrators of the heinous attacks.