Plateau killings: ‘Nigeria may become another Somalia’ – Gov Mutfwang warns

Plateau killings: ‘Nigeria may become another Somalia’ – Gov Mutfwang warns

 Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State has issued a
warning that without immediate action to halt the long-standing violence
claiming lives in the state, Nigeria could find itself in a situation akin to
war-torn Somalia.

 

Concerned about the prolonged cycle of violence, the
governor called for collective efforts from critical leaders to address root
causes and propose effective solutions.

 

Governor Mutfwang gave the warning while speaking with the
former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, who led some
serving and former members of the House on a condolence visit to him on
Saturday in Jos over the recent massacre of over 200 people in Bokkos and
Barkin Ladi local government areas.

 

According to him: “It is unfortunate that this cycle has
continued for years. We are praying that as a nation we will get it right so
that we toe the path of justice and don’t allow people to slip into self-help,
because once we allow the people to go into self-help, we will become another
Somalia.

 

“I think I can, with all boldness, say that I see a desire
for a shift with the current president. I see a desire to change the narratives,
rewrite the story and get things right. I have interacted with him a couple of
times, and I think he carries a burden to end this violence.

 

“What we need is a mass of critical leaders to rally round
him to be able to expand his scope so that he understands the root and
immediate causes of these problems and to proffer solutions.”

 

Mutfwang said further: “There is an economy that has been
built around this insecurity. We need to know who the financiers are and who
paid for the hundreds of AK-47 rifles. Where did they get them from?”

 

The governor reiterated his commitment to collaborating with
the Federal Government to end the decades-long attacks in Plateau.

 

He expressed gratitude to the former Speaker for always
identifying with Plateau State, urging him not to be silent but to keep pushing
for the interests of the people.

 

Earlier in his remarks, Dogara advised President Bola Tinubu
not to follow the pattern of previous leaders who merely expressed condolences
in the face of killings, emphasising the need for decisive action as
Commander-in-Chief.

 

He urged Tinubu to use all available means to identify and
bring perpetrators of violence to justice across the nation, stressing that
failure to act serves as an incentive for continued violence.

 

His words: “The perpetrators of this violence are not just
crazy but are very dangerous, and the truth is that they won’t just stop until
we stop them. We must stop them. Who has the responsibility to stop them? It is
the Commander-in-Chief, but previously, they reduced themselves to
mourners-in-chief instead.

 

“It means using whatever coercive security apparatus we have
as a nation to locate these perpetrators and their sponsors wherever they are
littered in the ungoverned spaces that we have in Nigeria, whether in Plateau,
Nasarawa, Benue, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto or in southern Kaduna or the south;
we must locate them, and after locating them, the Commander-in-Chief must take
justice to them or bring them to justice.”

Source: Plateau killings: ‘Nigeria may become another Somalia’ – Gov Mutfwang warns

 - NigerianEye

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