KILLINGS: TINUBU PLAYING WITH FIRE, GOVERNOR ALIA PLAYING POLITICS, AND SHOWING GROSS INSENSITIVITY: HURIWA
By Emmanuel Onwubiko
HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) said both President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Benue State Governor Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia have so far displayed attitudes to the senseless killings of Benue state natives by Fulani terrorists with INSENSITIVITY and baseless politicking with the sanctity of the lives of Benue state people.
HURIWA particularly condemned President Tinubu for accommodating and tolerating incompetence and inefficiency of his military and police chiefs just as HURIWA condemned the Benue state governor for shown dismissive aloofness to the gravity of the situation of mass slaughter of his people by Fulani terrorists.
“It is sad that the Benue State governor that is not just a nominal politician but a trained Philosopher and Theologian and an ordained priest in the Holy Roman Catholic Church has so far shown dismissive attitudes to the genocides going on against his kinsmen, women and especially children by Fulani terrorists masquerading as herders.
“Governor Alia’s statement that his administration and president Tinubu fought the killings from 9 local government areas to 3 is pedestrian, illogical, vexatious and grossly insensitive. It shows an offensive level of incompetence on the part of this governor who ought to be a worshipper of truth and shouldn’t play partisan politics with the sanctity of lives of his people.
“His (Alia’s) invitation of armed police to disperse peaceful protesters at the weekend in Makurdi drawn almost entirely from his own people, is vexatious, unconstitutional and illegal because the Roght to peaceful assembly is guaranteed under the Grund Norm of Nigeria even if the state is under terrorists attacks.
“The statement by the President shows that he is pampering terrorists because of his selfish political ambitions of second term which doesn’t even make sense because Fulani is a minority ethnicity and those killing in the name of Fulani ethnicity are just few bad eggs who are even condemned by many right thinking, rational and God- fearing Fulanis who are opposed to the activities of the few well armed Fulani terrorists.”
HURIWA quoted the President as reacting in the following press statement signed by Bayo Onanuga his special adviser on media communications thus:” I have been briefed on the senseless bloodletting in Benue State. Enough is enough! I have directed the security agencies to act decisively, arrest perpetrators of these evil acts on all sides of the conflict, and prosecute them.
Political and community leaders in Benue State must act responsibly and avoid inflammatory utterances that could further increase tensions and killings.
This is the time for Governor Alia to act as a statesman and immediately lead the process of dialogue and reconciliation that will bring peace to Benue. Our people must live in peace, and it is possible when leaders across the divides work together in harmony and differences are identified and addressed with fairness, openness and justice”, the President concluded.
HURIWA said the President is playing with fire by showing that he tolerates the incompetence of his military chiefs from whom he still receive the brief that formed the media statement he issued which showed a high level of failure to appreciate the enormity of the attacks in Benue state. Why is the president relying on crooked information from his non-perforning military chiefs and the failed IGP? Why wouldn’t the President visit Benue state and see things for himself and hear from the victims who managed to survive? just as the Rights group said this President has already made identical reactions to virtually all terrorists attacks that have happened since he came to office just as HURIWA then wondered how a government who does the same thing all the time is expecting to defeat a well determined terrorists and Fulani insurgents. Why can’t the President work with committed professionals, patriots and persons with fresh brains and ideas as service chiefs and IGP including NSA?
These are summaries of Tinubu’s reactions since he came to power and has failed to defeat mass killers of citizens:
28 dec, 2023
Vice President Kashim Shettima, on Wednesday, assured that President Bola Tinubu’s administration would not rest on its oars until victims of the gruesome attacks in Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State get justice.
The Vice President gave the assurance when he paid a condolence visit to the affected communities in the state.
The PUNCH reports that in the attacks, which began on Saturday and lasted about 48 hours, gunmen killed over 150 villagers and razed many houses, with over 10,000 people reportedly displaced.
Shettima, who was accompanied by the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, said President Tinubu was heartbroken about the killings, vowing that the perpetrators would not go scot-free.
He said, “President Tinubu is deeply shaken by this tragedy and shares in this unspeakable sorrow that has shattered the joy of Christmas across the country.
march 17, 2025
President Bola Tinubu has broken his silence on the attack in Okuama community, Delta State, which left 22 officers and men of the Nigerian Army dead.
According to the President, the soldiers were on a peace mission, responding to a communal crisis between Okuama and Okoloba communities.
Tinubu vowed that the culprits will be brought to book.
He said his administration will do everything possible to maintain peace in every part of the country.
The President noted that the Defence Headquarters and Chief of Defence Staff have been granted full authority to bring to justice anybody found to be involved in the killing of the Army officers and soldiers.
march 29, 2025
President Bola Tinubu has condemned the murder of travelling hunters mistaken for kidnappers by local vigilantes in the Uromi community of Esan North Local Government of Edo State.
In a statement by Special Adviser to the President (Information and Strategy), Bayo Onanuga on Friday, said the president expressed shock at the dastardly act on Thursday, and had directed police and other security agencies to conduct swift and thorough investigations, and punish the suspected culprits.
“President Tinubu commiserated with the families of the affected victims and assured them that criminals would not be allowed to shed the blood of innocent Nigerians,” the statement wrote in part, adding that the President noted that jungle justice has no place in Nigeria.
Tinubu noted that all Nigerians have the freedom to move freely in any part of the country. President Tinubu then commended the Edo State governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, and community leaders in Uromi for their swift response to avert the escalation of tension.
Tinubu’s reaction comes after Police authorities in Edo said they had arrested 14 suspects over the killing of the travellers.
April 15 2025
Evil will not prevail over good, President Bola Tinubu, assured Nigerians on Friday, saying his administration is working round the clock to ensure that the current spate of killings across communities in different parts of Nigeria will be brought to an end soon, given its commitment to restoring peace and security to the country.
The President, whose assurance is coming on the heels of the massive bloodletting, that left more than 150 people slaughtered in communities in Plateau State and scores more butchered in neighbouring Benue in just two weeks, conveyed his in his Easter message.
In the message he personally signed, the President, who spoke from France, where he has been staying on a heavily-criticised trip, officials of the Presidency, explained is a “working visit,” expressed sadness at the development.
Assuring that he was not sleeping on the matter, the President, who said he was fully aware of the anxiety the situation had generated in the country, explained that he had taken full control and given charge to security agencies on what to do to end the carnage effectively and promptly.
“I understand the pain and fear these incidents have caused. Let me assure you that my administration’s resolve to restore peace and security remains unshakable. Forces of evil will never prevail over our country,” he said, adding that he had given clear directives to the armed forces and all relevant security agencies to end insecurity “decisively” and “without delay.”
April 15, 2025
President Bola Tinubu, tasked Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, to summon the necessary political will to resolve the crisis in his state and establish enduring peace, saying the country can no longer ignore the underlying causes of the crisis.
Tinubu spoke in reaction to the killing of about 54 persons by gunmen during an attack on Zike-kimakpa community, Kwall District of Bassa Local Government Area, Sunday night, in a fresh assault on Plateau State.
The killings came barely one week after earlier attacks that claimed 61 lives in Bokkos Local Government Area of the state.
Tinubu expressed sorrow over the latest bloodshed in the state, and instructed security agencies to thoroughly investigate the. recurring crisis.
Mutfwang said the spate of killings in the state suggested a more sinister motive by the perpetrators.
June 15, 2025
President Bola Tinubu, condemned the continued bloodshed in Benue State, describing the killings as “inhuman and anti-progress.”
In a renewed effort to restore peace, the President directed security chiefs to fully implement his earlier orders to stabilise the security situation in the state.
The directive comes in the wake of a fresh wave of reprisal attacks that reportedly left over 200 people dead. Following Tinubu’s instructions, intelligence officers, police, and military personnel have been deployed to Benue to coordinate security operations and restore order.
President Tinubu also tasked the state governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, with convening reconciliation meetings and initiating dialogue among stakeholders to end the violence and foster peaceful coexistence between farmers, herders, and local communities.
“The killings and bloodletting in Benue are inhuman and anti-progress,” the President said, urging political and community leaders in the conflict areas to refrain from making unguarded statements that could escalate tensions.
HURIWA said the only solution to the attacks by FULANI TERRORISTS is to stop pampering the killers and to decisively crush these terrorists, arrest and prosecute mass killers even as HURIWA said the President has even gone as far as pacifying the killers by establishing a separate but altogether needless ministry for Livestock, appointed Fulani as minister and appointed another Fulani Attahiru Jega as adviser on livestock even as Tinubu is tinkering with a plan to seize lands from communities to donate to Fulanis to use as grazing fields.
The RIGHTS group has asked Nigerian communities under attacks by Fulani terrorists to defend themselves by all means humanly possible since the federal government has failed in its constitutional primary duty of protecting lives and property but is rather playing politics of appeasement for terrorists and allowing persistent bloodletting to continue unrestrained. HURIWA recalled that even the Director General of DSS had asked Nigerian communities under terrorists attacks to defend themselves.
COMRADE Emmanuel Onwubiko,
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