PDP asks N/Assembly to probe why Shiite protest led to killings

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has demanded the National Assembly to rise to the occasion by taking urgent legislative steps to unravel how the Monday protest by the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) led to the killing of many Nigerians.

A Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Usman Umar, a youth corps member, Precious Owolabi and two Assistant Superintendent of Police were confirmed dead while others sustained various degree of injuries following the protest in Abuja.

The PDP in a statement on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan said President Muhammadu Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) should be blamed for the killings.

The PDP said if President Buhari had given the smallest consideration to wise counsel by well-meaning Nigerian leaders, including former presidents, as well as international bodies, the security challenges confronting the nation would have been reduced to the barest minimum.

“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) laments the continuous killing of Nigerians in avoidable bloody clashes in various parts of the country, particularly the preventable skirmishes between the police and protesters in Abuja, the nation’s capital on Monday.”

“The PDP is heartbroken that the misrule of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration has gradually turned various parts of our country, including the nation’s capital, into arenas of violence and bloodletting.”

“Our party is particularly saddened by the death of an innocent National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, attached to the Channels TV, 23 years old Mr. Precious Owolabi, who was shot during the Monday bloody clash between the police and protesters in Abuja”, the statement added.

“Indeed, our hearts reach out to his family at this moment of grief. The killing of Mr. Owolabi, as well as the avoidable deaths of other compatriots, including a Deputy Commissioner of Police, is indeed another sad commentary on the irreplaceable losses and anguish families in Nigeria have continued to bear under the APC.”