President Muhammadu Buhari following the ugly incident in Benue this morning has sent in his condolences to the families of the victims who were senselessly massacred inside a church. This is coming after it was reported that killer herdsmen attacked and slaughtered 11 worshippers and 2 priests during mass at Gwer East local government in Benue, just almost a week when men of the Nigerian Army were alleged to have burnt down houses and killing an elderly man in Gwer West.
The burning an killing of an elderly man by the Nigerian Army, as it is being alleged by the community, was said to have happened after some unidentified youth in the community killed one of their own, whom the community said was mistaken for a militia.
The latest attack now on another community and inside a church, just shows there is more to this Benue Killings than we the ‘outsiders’ know…i feel is beyond Herdsmen and farmers clash…
President Muhammadu Buhari sending his condolences, took to his social media page to say:
I extend my sincere condolences to the Govt and people of Benue State, the Mbalom community, and especially the Bishop, priests & members of the St Ignatius’ Catholic Church, whose premises was the unfortunate venue of the heinous killings of worshippers & two priests by gunmen.
This latest assault on innocent persons is particularly despicable. Violating a place of worship, killing priests and worshippers is not only vile, evil and satanic, it is clearly calculated to stoke up religious conflict and plunge our communities into endless bloodletting.
I want to assure the people of Benue, and all Nigerians, that we will ensure that the assailants are apprehended and brought to justice for this vile and sacrilegious act.
This will not be the first time the President will be sending his condolence to the people of Benue State, or to the people of North Central, as it has been a thing of daily occurrence that people are being killed in that part of the country, not to talk of Zamfara. But my question is, why is nobody asking the right questions and seeking the right solutions to nip this crisis in the bud?