Tinubu visits Borno, says Nigeria can no longer afford ongoing carnage
A former governor of Lagos State and chieftain of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has bemoaned the incessant killings across the country, stressing that Nigeria can no longer condone the carnage.
Mr Tinubu visited Maiduguri, Borno State capital, to sympathise with the government and people of the state over the recent mass killing of farmers in a rice field.
At least 48 farmers have been officially confirmed by the government to have been slaughtered two weeks ago in Zabarmari district of Borno. Unofficial sources have placed the death toll to about a hundred.
Speaking to journalists at the Government House, Maiduguri, Mr Tinubu said peace and progress cannot be achieved in an environment where lives are being threatened recklessly.
“We cannot achieve peace and stability in an environment where people are butchered while in search of their means of livelihoods,” said Mr Tinubu.
The APC leader who had earlier paid a courtesy call on the governor of Borno State, said he was in the state to “sympathise and condole with the people of Borno, particularly the governor who has been working tirelessly to ensure peace and stability in the state.”
“And even as a nation, we want peace in this country. We cannot achieve peace and stability in an environment where people are butchered while in search of their means of livelihoods.
“And those who may be promoting all of these dissidents are called upon to try the other means of peace.
“Let’s get our youths engaged, we cannot afford any of this carnage any longer.
“We have to engage our youth, train and retrain them. No human being is un-retrainable, no human being is unengageable. We have to change our tactics in some areas,” he said.
When asked to clarify on his recent comment about some individuals causing commotion in the APC, the former governor who later had a closed-door meeting with Governor Zulum and former governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, informed reporters that he was not in the state to answer political questions.
He said “I am here in search of peace for a nation.”
“I’m in search of peace and harmony for a state. But if you see elements of ants, rats cockroaches in APC, kindly get a flit and flit them out,” he said.
The APC leader later paid a visit to the palace of the Shehu of Borno before he departed the state.
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