Benue attacks: Time to look beyond party difference says APC Chieftain

Arc. Asema Achado, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue,  has appealed to politicians in the state  to shelve party differences and find solutions to the incessant attacks on communities.

Achado made the call in a statement he personally signed on Saturday and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Makurdi.

He regretted that instead of uniting to confront the common enemy, Benue politicians were busy playing politics with the attacks.

Achado said that majority of Nigerians had little negatives against APC as a party apart from issues of insecurity in the country and urged the Federal Government to urgently find solutions to it.

“I call on people of the state to put politics behind them and collectively emancipate the citizenry from the trouble that is enveloping us.

“As an ardent member of the All Progressives Congress, I plead with the APC-led Federal government to take more proactive steps in bringing the re surging security situation in Nigeria and Benue in particular under control.

“Outside this security situation, Nigerians have very little negatives to talk about our party and government.

“The gunmen do not spare APC, PDP, APGA or SDP members and the earlier we remove politics from the attacks, the more united we will be in confronting the marauders,” he added.

Achado further said that as a politician, he was worried with the attitude of most people in the state as they were more interested in discussing the politics of the attacks instead of finding solutions to it.

“I am however more worried that many people in Benue are more interested in discussing the politics of these heinous attacks than the damage they have visited on Benue.

“They prefer to apportion blames and counter blames, as though the gunmen attack only members of a particular tribe, group or political party; This is uncalled for, to say the least.

“In times of extreme carnage and troubles, we need to team up to resist an invading enemy rather than cut ourselves to pieces.

“Suspected armed herdsmen attacks all over Nigeria have become a recurrent tragedy and here in Benue, no year passes by without such attacks, for many years now.

“While people from other states are battling with this same problem and finding internal solutions, we seem to be putting too much politics into our quest for solutions, rather than attempting a coordinated  approach to confront the problem headlong.” he said

He said provision of security was the primary responsibility of the government at all levels, but everyone has a role to play by volunteering useful information to curb the menace.

“I acknowledge the efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian Army through ‘Operation Whirl Stroke’ in Benue, but the number of people still living in the IDP camps and the influx of armed herdsmen into Benue show that more needs to be done.

“Many farmers have been driven away from their ancestral lands and their homes occupied by the suspected armed herdsmen.

“The Benue State Government also deserves commendation for the Anti-Open Grazing Law which is aimed at ensuring modern ways of animal husbandry in the state, but more sincere implementation is needed, distancing the law from politics.

“People of the South West have put before us a very big difference between party politics and common interest.

“By embracing the Amotekun Security Network, the south-westerners, irrespective of political affiliation have sent a stern signal that they are willing to safeguard their people and their party differences could wait. Why can’t we do same in Benue?” he said.