US CONDEMNS MIDDLE BELT KILLINGS, EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER RISING VIOLENCE

Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, was one of those who joined the fray against the killers yesterday, leading a one-man march to the Presidential Villa to demand an end to the gruesome bloodletting in some parts of the North-central.

She accused the president of colluding with the herdsmen in the Plateau State conflict.

Her letter addressed to the president was titled, ‘Time to act: enough is totally and truly now enough,’ contained 18 demands.

Ezekwesili accused Buhari of bias in the killings in Plateau State and for making statements that endorsed the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association's justification of the killings as a mere retaliatory act for lost cows.

She said, "Your bias in handling the killings and abductions of certain segment of Nigerians is all too obvious and unbecoming of a leader of diverse nation like Nigeria. All Nigerian lives matter. Stop your cold and visible lack of empathy toward a segment of your citizens who are daily killed with impunity. Stop the seeming troubling endorsement by your administration of the repugnant admission by an organization that it kills human beings who are your citizens for their own lost cows."

She also said the president should sanction the Inspector General of Police (IG), Ibrahim Idris, if the latter failed to arrest the patrons of the cattle breeders association, who allegedly made the statement and their members, who were assigned to execute the so-called ‘retaliatory attacks’.

Ezekwesili commenced the walk at about 12:15 pm from Eagle Square, with a handful of sympathisers, including Aisha Yesufu, the Co-Convener of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group.

Tempers, however, flared when the procession which branched off Shehu Shagari Road towards the Presidential Villa, was stopped by uniformed and plain clothed security men along Circular Road.

Journalists following the procession were turned back. Also anti- riot policemen seized the banner held by Ezekwesili while there was bitter verbal confrontation between Yesufu and some security men after her phone was confiscated.

After the de-escalation of the row, the crumbled banner, with varying messages like #Endthebloodflow; #Endthekillings and #Wherearethekillers, was returned to Ezekwesili.

She subsequently read her letter containing her demands addressed to the president and dropped it to be delivered at sentry inside the Villa.