Jos Killings: Buhari’s, Lalong’s Reactions must Produce Immediate Results, Says NEF

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has condemned the recent attack and killing of travellers in Jos North, Plateau State, saying the reactions of President Muhammadu Buhari and that of Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, must produce immediate results in arrests and prosecutions.

It warned that under no circumstances must this heinous crime be ignored or treated as routine.

The Director of Publicity and Advocacy of the Forum, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, in a statement issued Monday said NEF was shock by the cold blooded murder of scores of travellers by locals in Jos.

The Forum, while condoling families of those murdered, appealed to all communities to show the highest levels of restraint and tolerance, stressing that killings and reprisals only endanger the lives of more people, most of them the innocent.

It said: “Notwithstanding the fact that most of the North of Nigeria is now a virtual killing field, this particular incident is an outrageous provocation, and it compounds the deteriorating community relations in this and many parts of the region.

“The Forum has taken note of the statement of President Muhammadu Buhari and the steps taken by Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong. These reactions must produce immediate results in arrests and prosecutions. Under no circumstances must this heinous crime be ignored or treated as routine.”

The Forum called the attention of leaders at all levels to the increasing vulnerability of Nigerians to armed criminality and deteriorating relations among many communities.

It stressed that it was important that the citizens are made to feel safer and more secure.

It said every Nigerian must be made to know that there are consequences for their actions, or the country would sink deeper into lawlessness and anarchy.