GAGDI CONDEMNS BLOODY ATTACKS IN PLATEAU COMMUNITIES

By Pam Moses.

The immediate past Deputy Speaker of the Plateau state House of Assembly, and Chairman Forum of State Legislators of Nigeria, Rt. Hon. Yusuf Adamu Gagdi has condemned in unequivocal terms, the bloody attack on Plateau Communities by suspected Fulani herdsmen, leaving in its wake, the gory sights of hundreds of natives who were unabatedly massacred by the blood-thirsty marauders on Saturday and Sunday 23rd and 24th June, 2018.

In a strong worded press release signed by the lawmaker and made available to newsman in Jos, the vibrant legislator rained curses on the perpetrators of the dastardly act and prays that Allah’s wrath befalls them hundred folds, if they do not genuinely repent from their evil ways and seek Allah’s forgiveness in earnest.

The member who represents Kantana Constituency, made a clarion call on all Plateau people to be more united than ever before, irrespective of tribe and religion to repel the atrocious acts of the deadly marauders who have constituted a menace to the peaceful existence of Plateau people in their own land.

Gagdi described the herdsmen as common enemies of Plateau people who should be treated as such, without religious considerations from any quarters. As a practicing Muslim, Gagdi maintains that Islam abhors in the strongest terms, taking the life of innocent persons no matter their religious beliefs, and chided those attempting to justify the barbaric acts of the killer herdsmen on whatever pretext. According to him, “it’s most irresponsible for any sane person to side with the perpetrators of such diabolical acts on the flimsy grounds that their cattle were rustled or killed by some people from the attacked communities.

While acknowledging that the state government had done a lot to engender peaceful coexistence among people from various ethnic and religious divides in the state, Gagdi observed that such efforts, as evident from the recent pogrom, are little enough to halt the nefarious activities of the Fulani marauders who have metamorphosed into the deadliest terrorist organization unleashing mayhem on Nigerian communities.

In his candid assertion, “the recent onslaught of the supposed herdsmen on Plateau Communities, is a coordinated attack executed with high degree of expertise and precision that suggested long term well detailed plan. And for them to have beaten the intelligence of our security operatives and execute their plan unchallenged, leaves much to be desired of the competence of our security outfits to curb the rising spade of terrorist activities bedevilling our country”.

According to him, “I don’t want to believe that such atrocious acts were executed with the connivance of our security forces, but I must admit that their efforts at intelligence gathering is very porous, thereby subjecting the lives of Nigerian citizenry in great peril”.

For lasting peace to be achieved on the Plateau, Hon. Gagdi is of the believe that all indigenous tribes in the state must have a synergy, irrespective of religious beliefs to combat the common enemy of the state who is identified in the gerb of a herdsman. The killer marauders are distinguishable from genuine herdsmen, he posited.

According to him, it is not impossible that some indigenous people are sympathetic to the herdsmen on religious grounds, but maintained that if only they come to terms with the tragic reality that there are Berom, Mwaghavul and other indigenous Muslims in our communities who would not be spared when this killers descend on their victims to unleash doom, only then would they realise that there is nothing Islamic in the unprovoked killing of innocent citizens by such blood mongers.

Gagdi maintained that the reprisal attacks on innocent road users by indigenous people on major highways are equally condemnable, but cautioned that when consideration is given to the number of people murdered in one swoop by those killer herdsmen, one cannot, but forgive their over indulgence in a bid to avenge for their lost ones.

But in the final analysis, Gagdi admonished that such reprisals can only add to the number of innocent victims, positing that allowing long arm of the law to apprehend those responsible and deal with them accordingly remains the only acceptable option in the circumstances.

He argues that self defence is encouraged by our religious books and enshrined in our secular laws, but resorting to self help after the deed has been done can only breed bad blood among us, especially at this time when sons and daughters of Plateau at home and in diaspora need to put all hands on deck to salvage our land from the grip of terrorist insurgents.

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RT. HON. YUSUF GAGDI CONDEMNS BLOODY ATTACKS IN PLATEAU COMMUNITIES