Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe on Monday faulted President Muhammadu Buhari’s handling of the nation’s herdsmen crisis.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, Abaribe suggested that the President’s posture appeared to give fuel to the activities of these violent herdsmen.
“The President needs to come out and say I do not support these types of actions, these criminal elements,” Abaribe said. “He has to come out and everybody sees that he is owning this problem.”
But “We have never heard it,” he added. “Where did the President ever say that these criminal herdsmen will never be tolerated in this country? What we’ve heard from 2016 all the way down is ‘live in peace with your neighbour’ and ‘try to accommodate your countrymen’ and stuff of that nature.
“And that now enables those who are committing these crimes, that there is no punishment.
“And when you see the rest of the country, eruptions here and there, all targetted at a particular segment of people, you should be very worried. And why you should be very worried is, what is it that gives these people the impetus to continue to commit these crimes?”
Abaribe is ‘Uncharitable’
Responding to Abaribe, presidential spokesman Garba Shehu described his comments as “uncharitable.”
He stressed that the President, through his spokespersons, has condemned such violent activities.
“Senator Abaribe dwelt a lot, attacking President Muhammadu Buhari, saying that he has not, even at a rhetorical level, spoken against this kind of violence,” Sheu said. “That is most uncharitable.
“When Femi Adesina or myself speak for the President, people should accept that it is the President that is speaking.
“For this President, it is the actions that should speak for him. He is not a showman. He doesn’t have to be there.”
