From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
A coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has blamed political power-play for the violence engulfing Benue State, sending a Save our Soul (SoS) message to President Bola Tinubu to caution some erring politicians at the federal level.
The coalition accused the political figures of sponsoring the crisis in State with a view to instigating him to declare a state of emergency.
The CSOs under the aegis of Coalition for Civil Society in Nigeria and Advocates of Social Justice, further claimed that some dishonourable members of the society have constituted themselves as elements to pull down Benue State and by extension, Nigeria.
Addressing newsmen at a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, the coalition’s Chief Convener, Comrade Igwe Ude-Umanta said since the day the Benue State Local Government Election Tribunal delivered judgment in favour of the elected councilors from the seven Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Benue North West Senatorial District, Zone B, hell has been let loose in Benue.
He said: “Everyday, there are pockets of killings and there are rumours of the killings being sponsored by some lawmakers who constitute themselves as enemies of the State.”
Equally re-echoeing Ude-Umanta’s views, Comrades Guana Joseph Benjamin, Tijani Usman, Danielson Momoh, Abdulmumuni Tijani and Alfred Audu Gbaja, all co-conveners, lamented that it is worrisome that people elected to serve the people are the ones also killing them indirectly, basically to score cheap political points.
“It is worrisome that people who are elected to serve the people are the ones also killing them indirectly, just to score political point. What will the people gain if they continue to loose their loved ones because you want a state of emergency declared in your own State?
“This rascals must be stopped. Do they think that Nigerians would fold their arms and watch these few elements pull down the Country? We call on the security agencies to immidiately go after the serial killers in Benue state. Street and campus cults are used while they would blame it on the State Governor for failing to provide security even though they know fully well that the State Governors do not have control over security matters in Nigeria but the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“These same characters will boldly tell the world that they are supporting Mr President yet, they are bastardising his administration and secretly sponsoring insecurity in Benue State.
“We make bold to say that Mr. President has achieved so much in the areas of security and he should be supported by all well meaning Nigerians to do more. We understand that if the security agencies do a thorough investigation of the killings in Benue, many politicians would go down.
“We wish to raise this alarm, and calling on all relevant security agencies that some disgruntled persons from Benue State, are currently mobilising more than 20,000 people for a protest in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja in a bid to cause another chaos in the country. This must not be allowed,” the coalition said.