Don’t play into hands of agents of disunity, Buhari tells Benue leaders

President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the people of Benue State not to fall into the hands of those he described as agents of disunity.

The president gave the warning in a statement yesterday night by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu.

Buhari said repeated acts of mass killings and destruction in parts of Nigeria and Benue State in particular point to the evil design of enemies of peace and unity, desperately trying to bring the country to the present sorry point of “A brother killing brother, a neighbour killing a neighbour and a community attacking and killing members of another community.

“The president strongly warns citizens against playing into the hands of the agents of disunity.”

Buhari said those behind the Church attack that left 18 people dead, including two priests, did not mean well for Nigeria and peaceful coexistence.

He said the revenge attacks that followed in which 11 members of the Hausa communities were killed, were part of the agenda of the bandits and their sponsors to turn Nigerians against one another.

The president cautioned: “We must resist all temptation to fall into this laid out plan.”

He said he was greatly pained by this persistent violence and the total disregard for the sanctity of life by those he called “these hideously evil people who have no iota of respect for humanity, decency and civilization.”

The president reiterated that the government would not rest on its oars in its determination to fish out these barbarous mass murderers and their clandestine sponsors.

He also assured Nigerians that measures being put in place by the government would, sooner than later bring to an end, “these extremely brutal and wanton killings”.