The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the gruesome beheading of 43 farmers by Boko Haram insurgents in Zabarmari, Borno state.
The victims were captured on Saturday while working in a rice farm, tied up and beheaded by the insurgents in what the PDP described as extremely wicked and devilish.
In a statement on Sunday by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP charged that the crime must not be left unaddressed.
“The PDP notes with pain that this horrific killing of compatriots comes as yet another of the recurring horrid testament and badge of failure of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration to secure our nation and guarantee the safety of lives and property in our country.
“Indeed, our party is distressed by the escalated killing and maiming of innocent Nigerians by insurgents, bandits and marauders, who have continued to ravage and pillage our communities, while the lazy and lethargic Buhari administration continues with its lip service, rhetoric and false performance claims,” the statement said.
The party said it was particularly disturbed by the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari to take decisive actions despite series of concerns raised by the Borno Governor, Babagana Zulum, of security compromises in the state.
The PDP observed that the Buhari administration appeared helpless while the national security structure seemed to have collapsed.
It added that the nation appeared to be on auto pilot with no one in charge, while the ship of state has continued to drift.
The party further said: “All our nation gets from the Buhari Presidency is that ‘Mr. President is shocked’, ‘Mr. President is saddened’, ‘Mr. President regrets’ and such lame responses without any decisive policy direction or directive to definitively tackle the situation at hand, leading to escalation of killings in our country.
“Such attitude by the Buhari administration has continued to embolden insurgents to the extent that they now attack military formations, convoys of state governors and engage in wanton beheading of our compatriots.
“It is distressing that despite this sorry situation, Mr. President, who promised to lead from the front, has receded into the safety of Aso Presidential villa and refused to act on the consistent demands of Nigerians to rejig the national security architecture and replace the service chiefs with more capable hands to affectively tackle our security challenges”.
The PDP charged the President to stop it described as his unhelpful rhetoric. The party urged him to sit up and take actions that will safeguard the lives of Nigerians who have been subjected to all manners of mental and physical torture “under this incompetent administration.”
It further charged the President to immediately move to Zabarmari in Borno state, where the farmers were killed, empathize with the families of the victims and lead from the front in restoring security in the area.
“Our party commiserates with the government and people of Borno state and urges Nigerians to remain at alert particularly in providing useful information for our security agencies in this fight against insurgency in our land.”
