Buhari Presidency’s comments on 43 slain rice farmers smacks of support for terrorism —PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said it was alarmed by the “reckless and bizarre” attempt by the Buhari Presidency to rationalize the gruesome beheading of 43 rice farmers by insurgents in Zabarmari, Borno State.

It decried the Buhari Presidency’s claims that the 43 rice farmers were killed because they failed to get clearance before going to their farms.

Spokesman to President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu, had made the comment during an interview with the BBC on Monday.

But in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, also on Monday, the PDP said the remarks by the Presidency “smacks of support for insurgency”, adding that it was also an admission that the Buhari administration had been “overwhelmed by terrorists and can no longer guarantee our compatriots a normal life.”

The statement read in detail, “Our party submits that it is weird, reprehensible and repulsive that the Buhari Presidency now seeks to turn itself into a mouthpiece of terrorists by this subtle attempt to rationalize the killing of innocent and hard working Nigerians.

READ ALSO: Murder of rice farmers calls for urgent restructure of our national security system —Saraki

“This unpatriotic stance smacks of support for acts of terrorism and mindless killing of our compatriots by a government whose Commander-in-Chief had promised Nigerians to lead the battle against insurgents from the front.

“Our party is forced to hold that attitudes such as the unpatriotic remark of the Buhari Presidency embolden insurgents in their ceaseless attacks in our country.

“Such also provides further insights into the escalation of acts of terrorism in our country in the last five years.

“It is indeed shocking that the Buhari Presidency has graduated from making bogus claims of having degraded terrorism to the embarrassing point of blaming unprotected and helpless Nigerians for falling victims of terrorist attacks. This, to say the least, is the height of leadership failure of the lazy, lethargic and incompetent Buhari administration.”

There has been a global outrage over the killing of the 43 rice farmers with the UN officials in Nigeria even claiming but later withdrawing a statement saying that about 110 persons had been murdered in the incident.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now