WEDNESDAY April 16, 2025 |
By thenewsdesk.ng
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ondo State chapter, has urged President Bola Tinubu to consider declaring a state of emergency in the state over the killing spree of farmers and residents of the state by armed nomads.
PDP emphasised if the crude and unwarranted killings are not curbed, particularly with what it describes as incapacitation on the part of the state government in tackling the growing menace, the ugly trend might spiral into the entire southwest.
According to the opposition party, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has failed in his primary constitutional responsibility in securing and protecting the lives of the people.
In the past weeks, the state had faced attacks by armed herders, particularly in the farming belts of the Akure North Local Council Area of the state, with several farmers killed, which had also been followed by a series of protests in the state where the bodies of the slain farmers were also displayed at the state secretariat.
The party in a statement by the Director of Media and Publicity of the party, Leye Igbabo, expressed as worrisome the attitude of the governor, particularly his alleged decision to turn blind eyes to the activities of the herders.
Igbabo, who admonished Aiyedatiwa to be alive to his responsibilities and stop playing politics with the lives of the people, stressed that the killings were one too many and indicative of helplessness and hopelessness as well as compromise on the part of the state government.
He said, “The Peoples Democratic Party Ondo State Chapter is alarmed by the ceaseless killings of hapless residents of the state, whose main offence is that they lawfully engage in their daily activities needed to bring food to their tables.
“The Party cannot, in all honesty, find reasons why such assailants could operate without any form of resistance for months running in a state where there is said to be a valid government in place.
“Governor Aiyedatiwa has indeed failed in his constitutional duty as enshrined in Section 14(2)b of the 1999 constitution as amended, in that he can no longer secure and protect the lives and property of citizens of Ondo State.
“The Party is, by this statement, equally drawing the kind attention of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to these crude and unwarranted killings and to note the incapacitation of the State Government in tackling the growing menace.
“The kind attention of Mr President, under the prevailing circumstances, is to prepare him to consider the declaration of a state of emergency on insecurity in Ondo State if the state government continues to demonstrate a lack of capacity to halt the senseless killings before the state, nay the whole Southwest, is turned into a slaughterhouse for the incessant spilling of the blood of innocent souls.”
The opposition party further described as heart-wrenching that in less than one month, about 50 persons were gruesomely massacred in various settlements within the state, adding that no arrest or prosecution has been made.
“The PDP therefore wonders if a government still exists in Ondo State in the face of these unprovoked and unrestrained killings. Our party heard from a reliable source that the clear inaction of the state governor might be due to the unholy alliance and unwholesome support that the governor sought and got from certain powerful individuals atop the All Progressive Congress (APC) when he was running for the gubernatorial candidacy of the party last year.
“We have reasons to believe that Governor Aiyedatiwa’s hands are tied and incapacitated because most of these mindless killings are allegedly being perpetrated by criminals from his benefactor’s geopolitical zone and ethnic group.
“The Peoples Democratic Party Ondo State Chapter frowns at this horrible situation and sincerely admonishes the State Governor to desist from playing politics with the lives and fortunes of harmless residents who he swore to protect in the first instance.”
