PDP reacts to TY Danjuma's call for self defence
- PDP claims TY Danjuma's call for indigenes of Taraba state to take up arms in self defence shows the rot of the nation
- The opposition party blamed the presidency and the ruling party, APC for inseurity in Nigeria
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday, March 25, reacted to the call by former minister of defence, Lt. Gen.Theophilus Danjuma(retd.), for Taraba state indigenes and Nigerians as a whole to take up arms and defend themselves against herdsmen attacks.
Danjuma had earlier said the Nigerian Army is biased in defending the masses and urged Nigerians to take up self defence while speaking at the maiden convocation of the Taraba State University.
The Punch reports that the PDP, in a statement signed by its national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said Danjuma’s statement had justified its stand that the Buhari presidency and the APC must be held responsible for the agonising state of the nation.
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The opposition party said the fact that communities were resorting to self-defence was a clear demonstration that Nigerians across board “have completely lost confidence in President Buhari and the APC.”
Ologbondiyan said: “It is instructive to recall that former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida – both former military leaders, army generals and patriots – had earlier raised the issue of continuous bloodletting in our country under the APC and the Buhari presidency.
“Painfully, the APC-controlled federal government has not only failed in finding a solution, it is also contending with allegations of conspiracy and acts that are believed to have emboldened attacks against innocent Nigerians.
“Nigerians are no longer feeling secure in their land. Our country has, in close to three years, assumed a status of killing fields where defenceless citizens are despoiled and mowed down by insurgents and marauders in Benue, Taraba, Yobe, Gombe, Kaduna, Adamawa, Borno, Plateau, Nasarawa, Rivers, Enugu, Kogi, among other states."
He lamented that the federal government is not doing much to curb the spate of violence in the country.
He said: “Unfortunately, the federal government remains aloof and has failed to take decisive steps that will apprehend the masterminds of the carnage.
“More intriguing is that the Presidency and the APC federal government have refused to clear the air on their roles in the alleged compromise of security in troubled areas, particularly the reported withdrawal of troops from Dapchi prior to the abduction of the schoolgirls.
“Nigerians have also yet to see the action taken by President Buhari against the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, for flouting a presidential order that he should relocate to troubled Benue state in the heat of attacks on the state.
“Similarly, the strange silence of the federal government on the alleged importation of military equipment by APC interests in Kogi state remains ominous.
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“The fact that we now have a situation where the government confesses to back-channel negotiations with insurgents, hasty offering of amnesty to marauders and killers, allegations of round-tripping in billions of naira on alleged shady ransom payments and swap deals with insurgents, also leaves much to be desired under the current circumstances.
“While we restate our call for a United Nations’ monitored independent inquest into the security situation in our country, we stand with Nigerians in our moment of national despair."
Legit.ng earlier reported that the Senator representing Bayelsa east federal constituency, Ben Murray-Bruce has called on the federal government to heed to the call of a former chief of army staff, Theophilus Danjuma on the killings in Taraba state and its environs.
Murray-Bruce describing Danjuma as a patriot said only a few Nigerians can match Danjuma's contribution to the country.
Victims of herdsmen killing buried in Benue state - on Legit.ng TV
Source: Legit.ng
