By; BALA B. BITRUS, Minna.
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Niger State has condemned in unequivocal terms the invasion of Kpaidna and some other villages in Bosso local government area of Niger State by men of the Nigerian Army who claimed to be on a mission to mop-up weapons.
The party in a statement signed by the chairman, Barrister Tanko Beji described the action of the soldiers who carried out the ‘assault as not only senseless but a violation of the fundamental human rights of the villagers, many of who are still being declared missing by families’.
Tanko Beji argued that the claim by Nigerian Army that they were searching for arms and ammunitions allegedly kept by the villagers, which led to the death of about 16 people, including 11 soldiers, four of their trucks burnt, two others badly damage was ‘totally untenable’.
Kpaidna community and other villages invaded by the men of the Nigerian Army and the Air force in search of hidden arms and ammunition, the state PDP chairman said were all cooked up stories by people who do not wish the Gbagyis well.
“In this era where scientific ways of investigating matters are the order of the day, men of the Nigerian army should have found more civilized way of carrying out their actions instead of embarking on genocide in the village’, the state PDP chairman said.
The affected people and villagers were ‘ordinary farmers who are law abiding Nigerians, Beji said and wondered why the homes of mere farmers would be invaded in the dead hours of the night on the grounds that they are hiding weapons and called for thorough investigations to ascertain the truth about the hoax.
Beji however lamented that the, ‘Peace enjoyed by the people has now been truncated and they are now living in fear while many have left their homes and are in hiding for fear of being arrested or possibly killed’.
The PDP chieftain therefore asked the Nigerian army not to ‘only apologize to the people but to also compensate all those who lost their loved ones and property as a result of the attack on the villages and the villagers’.
Beji said he is aware that the affected communities have been having issues with some Fulani herdsmen but the involvement of the military is rather strange and therefore urged Niger State Government to also go beyond the setting up of a committee to investigate this heinous crime by taking up the matter with President Muhammad Buhari.
While commiserating with families of those that lost their loved ones, Beji who said the PDP will continue to speak on the need to respect the sanctity of human lives also prayed God to grant bereaved families the strength to bear the irreparable losses.
