By Desire Emmanuel
The Kabiru Turaki-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday, April 3, came hard on President Bola Tinubu over his visit to Jos, Plateau State, describing the visit as height of insensitivity and inhumanity.
The party said this in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, as it added that the insensitivity was on full display when the president held a meeting with stakeholders and victims of the killings in the city at the lounge of the Jos airport.
“His visit and words offered no succour to the victims. Instead, his contempt for the people was revealed. His words were not diplomatic and very far from soothing. This is not how to lead,” the faction of the party said.
The statement reads: “On Palm Sunday, 29th March, more than 40 persons were killed in Plateau State, and the Presidency was silent for more than 48 hours.
“Thereafter, the Presidency and the administration had completely glossed over the carnage until Nigerians overwhelmingly condemned the president for not visiting Plateau State. Four days later, President Tinubu grudgingly visited Plateau State in the evening, rushed through a meeting with stakeholders and victims at the lounge of the Jos airport.
“The president’s insensitivity and inhumanity were on full display. His impatience with the audience was glaring when he declared that the ‘airport does not have light’ and that he had only 10 minutes before flying back to Abuja.
“His visit and words offered no succour to the victims. Instead, his contempt for the people was revealed. His words were not diplomatic and very far from soothing. This is not how to lead.
“We wholly condemn this performative and superficial show by the Presidency. It would have been better for President Tinubu to have stayed back in Abuja than to mount this disgraceful display that added salt to the injury of the victims of this massacre.
“The president’s inability to leave the airport is clearly linked to the untamed insecurity that has overwhelmed the nation’s security agencies. That the president himself fears venturing into Plateau State is a damning indication of the hopelessness into which the Tinubu APC-led administration has plunged this country.
“The president’s announcement of 5,000 Closed-Circuit Television cameras is yet another evidence of the simplistic lens through which this administration views core security challenges. It is laughable to suggest that cameras are the panacea for the murderous insecurity ravaging Plateau State and the rest of the country.
“We call on the president and the Federal Government to immediately adopt a whole-of-society approach, with deliberate emphasis on community engagement, to urgently address and curb the insecurity tearing this nation apart.”
