South-East: Sit-at-home, Benue, Plateau killings, must end – Peter Obi

The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi, has condemned the insecurity in the South-Eastern part of the country, saying the frequent sit-at-home order in the region is criminal.

The former Anambra State Governor, who said this on Thursday in a series of Twitter posts, also condemned the spate of killings in Benue and Plateau, described it as criminal and urged the government to bring the dastardly act to an end.

“What is going on in the South-East is essentially a criminal activity that must be nipped in the bud, with all hands being on deck, security agencies, and the people alike. It was disturbing that gunmen enforcing the sit-at-home order in the South-East have continued to disrupt businesses and social activities in the region.

“The South-East governors are to be commended for their renewed efforts at curbing this menace but there is a need to be more strategic and intelligence-driven in our approach to reducing the suffering of innocent people,” Obi said.

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Speaking on the insecurity challenges in the North-Central region of the country, Obi said that the violent attacks in the North-Central states of Benue and Plateau lately took a new twist with high records of kidnapping, arson, and loss of human lives.

He said, “According to the 1st Quarter, Mass Atrocities Casualty Tracking Report, over 1,230 Nigerians were killed. 79 of them were security operatives, with over 600 abductions in the first quarter of this year alone. With what has been happening in the North-Central and Zamfara states lately the figure as of today will be mind-boggling even far more than the deaths recorded in Russia/Ukraine ongoing carnage.

“It is unacceptable that hundreds of innocent lives will continue to be wasted in Nigeria needlessly through communal clashes, bandits, and kidnapping activities. The situation in the Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau States has raised a lot of anxiety because of the number of lives and properties lost with very little resistance from security operatives.”

He continued, “I will like to urge critical stakeholders in these areas, traditional, Christian, and Muslim leaders to continue pushing for peace among their people in the way and manner they conduct themselves.

“The various governments at all levels should also take deliberate steps to address the issue of poverty and youth unemployment because the provision of stomach infrastructure is the surer way to tackle insecurity. Also, urgent steps should be taken consciously and intentionally to ameliorate the hardship of the people.”