Let’s join hands to rid Nasarawa of violence –Ex-Gov

[Mirror]

Former Governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, yesterday offered to assist Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura to eliminate tribal politics which has metamorphosed into violent killings in the state in recent times.

Adamu, who is the senator representing Nasarawa West senatorial zone in the National Assembly, made the offer when he led the state Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Concern Forum on a condolence visit to the governor over the killing of security personnel at Alakyo village by people suspected to be members of the Ombatse militia group.

He said it was an irony that those gallant agents of security that were drafted to Alakyo village to do their duty of ensuring the security of lives and property of Nasarawa people became victims of the cocktail of insecurity engulfing the state.

The former governor added that the least the government and the people of the state could do was to reciprocate their sacrifice by fishing out their killers so that they would face the full weight of the law.

Adamu said the cultists and ethnic militias were playing the scripts of their tribal political lords even as he said that "no one ethnic group in Nasarawa State has monopoly of violence. Together with government, we shall eliminate tribal politics in the state".

The senator assured the governor that the forum would partner with his administration on matters of security. He said: "No one should try to underplay the enormity of the current security challenges that face our dear state. Nor should anyone have any illusion that these challenges are for the state government alone. We all have a stake in the unity and peaceful co-existence in our state.

"It is important for government to sensitise the people to the insecurity challenges and educate them on the role they must play individually and collectively to assist the state government in the biggest challenges facing the state since its creation in October 1996."

The former governor, however, urged Al-Makura to spare neither efforts nor resources in ensuring that peace and unity reign in every part of the state and the people, no matter their tribes and tongues, are truly their brothers' keepers. Responding, Al-Makura told the former governor that information at the disposal of government showed that those behind the violence in the state were doing so for their political ambitions.

He, however, said "the state government will in no distance time, institute a judicial panel of enquiry to take meticulous findings over the killings of security personnel at Alakyo village in order to bring the perpetrators of the heinous crime to book".

National Mirror