Benue massacre: Ezekwesili accuses Tinubu of ‘zero duty of care’
Following the most up-to-date massacre of over 200 of us in Benue Speak, dilapidated Minister of Education and smartly-known public coverage recommend, Dr Obiageli “Oby” Ezekwesili, has declared that condolences or mere words after every tragedy ring gap and decried authorities’s lack of capability to give protection to and rob the lives of electorate.
In a assertion entitled ‘A Memo to My Fellow Electorate on the Grotesque Genocide in Benue’, she accused President Bola Tinubu, love his predecessors, of displaying “zero responsibility of care” in direction of victims of mass killings and households within the nation.
“Over the weekend, our fellow electorate were slaughtered in frosty blood; a total bunch misplaced with noxious impunity. All as soon as more, Tinubu, the one who now bears the title of Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Military, has confirmed zero responsibility of care in direction of the deceased, their households and the hundreds and hundreds of Nigerians left in trouble,” the dilapidated Vice President of the World Monetary institution wrote.
Describing the tragedy as one other chapter in a pattern of “normalised genocide,” Ezekwesili criticised “the inability of fierce urgency from the Presidency and political leaders,” adding that their articulate of being inactive emboldened perpetrators of violence.
“In 2018, when the most horrific massacres were unleashed towards the of us of Benue, following a sequence of assaults all over the nation, it used to be clear the Nigerian President and authorities of that time did no longer care. The arena watched as our nation grew indifferent to the every day slaughter of its like electorate.
“I, on the other hand, refused to cease restful. I called out then President Muhammadu Buhari relentlessly and embarked on a solo exclaim march to the Villa, demanding instant and decisive action to remain the bloodshed and bring the killers to justice,” she recalled.
Security operatives, per her, were instructed to quit her, however she stood her ground, defending her honest to exclaim, clear to send her message straight to the Nigerian authorities.
She added, “What many electorate – of us that regarded away, mocked or pushed aside the solo exclaim – failed to understand then used to be that if we did no longer collectively demand action from the President, who holds the constitutional vitality and responsibility as Commander-in-Chief, to give protection to Nigerian lives, these killings would change into normalised. And now, right here we're – seven years later.”
Ezekwesili, who founded and chairs the board of the College of Politics, Coverage and Governance (SPPG), talked about Nigerians must now no longer accept “words of sympathy” or “feeble responses,” arguing that repeated condolences without action had misplaced their which design.
“Authorities after authorities continues to level insist push aside for the lives of its electorate,” she wrote. “How for a ways longer will we enable Presidents – past and recount – to coddle the killers of our of us?”
She puzzled how for a ways longer Nigerians would tolerate a political system “led by a inappropriate band of misleaders,” and entreated electorate to unite and demand justice, accountability and of us-centred governance.
“The one condolences that rob which design for our murdered compatriots in Benue are those backed by action. It wants to be now,” she stated.
Ezekwesili’s intervention adds to rising public outrage over power insecurity in ingredients of the nation, specifically Benue, Plateau and Kaduna states, where communities continue to endure shipshape-scale assaults from armed non-articulate actors.
Regardless of repeated promises from successive administrations, coordinated responses and prolonged-time duration systems to remain the violence remain elusive. While the Tinubu authorities has pledged to prioritise security, critics impart outcomes had been negligible, with many communities unexcited living in effort.
Ezekwesili’s message is rarely any longer honest a name to authorities, however a rallying shout to Nigerians: “When will we collectively impart ‘ample’– and refuse to stand down till the underlying factors of governance are solved to remain these deaths?”
