Abuja, Nigeria, 17 Jan 2019: Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has lamented the worsening state of insecurity in the country and called on the government to show more results in its responsibility to protect the people instead of blaming opposition politicians for its own failures.
Reacting to the latest killing of scores of people in Gandi District of Rabah local government of Sokoto State, Atiku said he was disturbed by the uncontrolled violence by bandits who continue to kill poor villagers with impunity.
“I am genuinely concerned about the large scale losses of lives in Sokoto, Zamfara and other states under siege by bandits, and I totally condemn such reckless disregard for the sanctity of life”, Atiku said
According to him, “our people deserve to be secure and should not be made to lose hope in the face of repeated violence from bandits who continue to defy government warning.”
He blamed the Buhari administration for politicising the issue. He said instead of accepting responsibility and taking prompt action to protect the victims, the Buhari administration was looking for scapegoats to divert attention from its own failures.
“I’m disappointed by the recent allegations by the Buhari government that the PDP leaders are using the so-called looted funds to finance insecurity in the country. Blame game doesn’t help the victims of the banditry in Sokoto and other places. The people want action and not official rhetoric”, Atiku stated further.
The PDP presidential candidate explained that it is unhelpful and regrettable for a sitting government to be blaming the opposition for insecurity in the country instead of taking responsibility.
“Tell me why we should kill our own people in order to gain power. Tell me why the PDP should harm the very citizens whose support it needs to unseat the incompetent APC administration”, he queried.
Atiku said conspiracy theories by the APC leaders are not useful strategies to protect the people against mass murderers, adding that conspiracy theories are signs of laziness and lack of vision and effective strategies to protect the people.
The PDP presidential candidate advised the APC government to be courageous enough to accept responsibility for its lack of vision and for running out of ideas on how to govern the country.
“Between 2014 and 2015, the APC leaders used conspiracy theories to gain power by accusing former President Jonathan of financing Boko Haram, and today they are using the same conspiracy theories against PDP in order to desperately hang on to power”, he reminded.
Atiku however said that Nigerians are now wiser and can’t buy the APC conspiracy dummy any longer because the government will be judged by its performance in the area of security adding that “patience with failure and despair is not an option for the voters”.
