An Abuja based businessman and philanthropist, Chief Sunday Agwa, the Garkuwan Bonugo Kwali Abuja has said the lingering uproar in Bassa local government area of Plateau State required strong political will from both the State and the Federal Government of Nigeria to put an end to the ongoing carnage.
He said it is pathetic that local inhabitants are turned into IDPs at a very critical time that the nation is strungling to address the dreaded monster of insecurity and hunger as a result of food crisis already threatening the country.
He said there is need for a more proactive measure by Federal and Plateau State Governments in ending the wanton destruction of lives and property in some parts of the state.
Agwa stressed that these are times that people are supposed to feel the impact of those they were elected into offices and which the primary and cardinal objective is the security of lives and property of the people.
He condemned the killings of over “70 Rigwe people and burning down of houses, mowing down of riped farm crops and looting of domestic animals and household items by suspected herders in Bassa LGA said the act is not only barbaric and evil, but a sheer wickedness and man’s inhumanity to man.
“This act is not only barbaric, but man’s inhumanity to man and therefore must be condemned by all.”
He expressed worries over the condition of the Rigwe people describing it as a very difficult situation for them to cope with, “You can imagine, after many years of living where you were born and brought up, and all of a sudden, your house is burnt down, some of your people killed, means of livelihood shattered and then you are placed as an IDP, this will not only be traumatic but horrific I must confess, quite worrisome,” Agwa said.
The philanthropist who is also a native of Plateau State said it is disheartening to see that his people are being “annihilated and less effort is being injected into stemming down the perpetration of the evil.”
Chief Agwa said: “the Government must demonstrate political will in terms of dealing with the perpetrators or culprits via arrests, prosecution and dispense justice to the oppressed.”
He also reiterated the need for the Plateau State Government to revive the functionality of the Operation Rainbow which can go along way in mitigating the rate of killings having being established with the rural based ideas of curbing crimes. And also charged the Federal and State Governments to as a way of ameliorating the quantum of challenges and hardships facing the Rigwe people, to see how they can swiftly provide humanitarian intervention as well as see to the immediate rebuilding of the burnt communities.
Chief Agwa also condemned the killing of 22 persons by hoodlums along Rukuba Road axis of Jos North on the 14th August, 2021, saying there’s no justification whatsoever in taking the lives of fellow humans and commended the efforts of the state and Federal Government in their bid to stop the killings but said more is needed.
He enjoined citizens of the state to embrace peace as that is the only way development and growth can thrive stressing that the need to see each other as brothers must be emphasized by all and sundry.
