Says… Plateau, Benue killings is linked to 2027
Following the ongoing killings in Plateau and Benue states, a Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger state Hon. Jonathan Vatsa has on Sunday cautioned that there is a motive to discredit the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Hon. Vatsa while alleging that the ongoing bloodbaths in parts of the country are all sponsored and politically motivated violence, alleged that the same formula was used against former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan administration ahead of the 2015 elections and it succeeded.
While speaking with selected Journalists in Minna at his residence on the current situation especially the killings in Benue and Plateau states, the former Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism said what the sponsors of the current mayhem want is to discredit the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Government so as to make him unpopular before Nigerians ahead of the 2927 elections.
Vatsa who was the former publicity secretary of the APC in the state added that “all they want is to set Nigerians against the Tinubu government. In 2014, the same people set both Christians and Muslims against the Jonathan’s administration, using insecurity as a weapon to poison and deceived Nigerians and set them against the government.
“They funded Boko Haram, bombs were being thrown everywhere in the country including Abuja and they organized the kidnapping of Chibok school girls all in an attempt to make Jonathan government very unpopular before Nigerians.
“The same people are back on the drawing board again. The killings in Plateau and Benue are all part of the game plan, it is all about 2027, the government should know this by now.
“They are political merchants, if they are not in any government then that government must not succeed, they will unleashed insecurity and violence against the government”.
Vatsa pointed out that some group of individuals in some parts of the country believed strongly that they are the owners of Nigeria and the country belongs to them, adding that “like I said, if they are not in government that government must not work, they will unleash terror on the government by sponsoring terror and killings.
“The government must do their bidding or else the heaven will fall. They will make the country ungovernable for the government. We saw this play out during Jonathan administration”.
Vatsa further urged President Tinubu to act fast and bring the situation under control before those he described as “political merchants” of Nigeria remove him from power through insecurity.
“I can tell you that “Tinubu’s government is the target of current violence all over the country and that is why I am urging him to act quickly”.
Vatsa nonetheless believed that the current security challenge is not enough to stop President Tinubu re-election in 2027, insisting that “if the clueless and visionless Buhari administration could spend eight years, I wonder what will stop Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.
“One thing that I know for sure is that in Niger state, there is no vacancy in the government house in 2027 because all the opposition parties seems to have come to terms with the “New Niger Agenda” and the massive infrastructural transformation of the present administration but if President Tinubu thinks there is vacancy in Aso Rock in 2027 so it be”.
Vatsa however expressed regrets that the unfortunate thing is that the government knows the perpetrators and the sponsors of these killings but is afraid to go after them.
Accordingly, he said that “it is only in Nigeria that some individuals are above the law. They will sponsor violence and mayhem and nobody will go after them.
“Also it is only in Nigeria that people will loot government Treasury and they are giving red carpets reception by the government instead of throwing them into jail. You see people with corrupt cases hanging on their neck and they will start singing government praises just to be set free.
“I want to advise President Tinubu that tackling the current security challenges in the country requires some elements of madness. If he does have one, he should acquire it immediately before the situation consume his government because they are after his government”.