The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has condemned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors for holding a political meeting in Zamfara State on Saturday, just days after scores of innocent citizens were massacred in the state.
In a statement yesterday in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC described the decision of the PDP Governors’ Forum to hold the meeting, despite the killings, as “insensitive and tone-deaf”.
It added: “Instead of rallying around their colleague to help address the escalating violence, the PDP governors chose to stage a political show in a region still reeling from a tragedy.”
ADC said the PDP governors’ action amounted to trampling on the graves of the victims.
“The photos of the PDP governors in full ceremonial robes, grinning for the camera, are totally out of place in an environment that still reeks of so much blood and sorrow,” it said.
The party decried the massacre in Malumfashi, Katsina State, where dozens of worshippers and villagers were killed by gunmen.
According to the party, the Malumfashi attack in Katsina’s Malumfashi Local Government Area left 30 worshippers dead after gunmen opened fire on a mosque during the dawn prayers, while 20 villagers were burnt alive in their homes.
The killings, ADC noted, followed a spate of recent attacks in Zamfara State, where 47 people, including 38 hostages, were murdered, despite ransom payments, with at least 45 others killed in separate attacks this month.
“Taken together, over 140 Nigerians have been murdered in just two months in Katsina and Zamfara states alone,” the ADC stated.
“This is damning proof of the total collapse of our security architecture, which has prompted even the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) to ask citizens to defend themselves.”
Condemning the wave of killings in Katsina and Zamfara states, the ADC urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to declare a state of emergency in the two states to halt further bloodshed.
The Federal Government had, in a swift reaction, condemned the killings, describing them as a “callous and barbaric attack on harmless citizens”.
It insisted that the crime would not go unpunished.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Muhammed Idris, announced on Friday that security agencies were trailing the perpetrators.
He assured Nigerians that justice would be “swift and decisive”.
