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Nigerian government identifies those behind killings in Middle Belt

Published

7 years ago

April 23, 2018

The presidency, yesterday, claimed that the killings in the Middle Belt, were politically motivated.Presidential spokesman Mallam Garba Shehu, in a statement on Sunday, also slammed critics of the Arewa pastors, who recently endorsed President Buhari for a second term.

He noted that expectation of Buhari solving the problems inherited was far-fetched, saying: “Nigerians expected him to undo the damage in several decades of misgovernance and naturally, many are already feeling frustrated that he hadn’t done that in three years.”

“The problem with our opposition is that beyond fault-finding, they are unable to give or innovate a vision of their own on how they can make the nation better.

“A so-called Third Force has failed to get political traction since its birth. This is understandable, given that they have promised to give the country everything that is new but have so far produced no new faces, no new ways of doing things. Certainly, there is no face that can be called the President of Nigeria.

“For the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP parading itself on the glory of being the largest opposition, the party has not less than 10 leaders acutely ambitious to rule Nigeria. It will take them minimally two to three terms of presidential tenure, that is eight to 12 years to reinvent the party,” he said.

On the killing in the Middle Belt region, the presidential aide affirmed: “Today, government has irrefutable evidence that much as most of these killings are arising from herdsmen-farmers attacks, some of it is driven by politicians. The recent arrests by the army in Taraba State point to a clear political sponsorship, and the kingpins, some of whom have been arrested have been handed over to the DSS for further investigation.

“Others who are being sought have either gone into hiding or are pulling strings of blackmail to force the hands of government to abandon the search for them.

“It is clear by now that the Middle Belt killings even if they are not caused by the opposition are no doubt seen as a political opportunity to set the tone for the 2019 elections.”