Chibok Girls: ‘Condemn the animals, not govt.’ – Suswam

Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State

Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue state on Tuesday in Abuja said Nigerians must playing politics with the kidnap of over 200 school girls by Boko Haram slamic sect in Borno state.

He said Nigerians should stop condemning the government but rather condemn the perpetuators.

“People should not play politics with security matter in the way that I have seen people play politics with Chibok girls.

“Instead of condemning the animals that are perpetrating these acts, people are condemning the government,” he said.

Suswam also described the purported letters from Boko Haram warning of an impending attacks on schools in Benue as a ‘mischief’.

Suswam spoke to State House correspondents after a closed door meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said the letters emanated from mischief makers, though, the state government had taken proactive measures to forestall any occurrence, saying: “I think that letter was from some mischievous people.

“The way the letter was written showed it was from some mischievous elements and not from the quarters that it was purported to have come from,” he said.

He said that Nigerians should join hands with government to tackle the security challenges in the country and condemn the abduction of the girls, rather than cast aspersions at the president.

“If people are throwing bombs, kidnapping our children, instead of people to join hands with government, they are demonstrating against government.

“It has become job for the jobless who will gather everyday to condemn government instead of condemning the act itself.

“People are playing politics with this and it has the tendency and potential of consuming everybody not just President Jonathan or the PDP government.

“If this country goes down, it is not PDP alone that will go down,” he said.

Suswam said the country would emerge from the crises victorious, stronger and more united.

He quoted the late Tai Solarin as saying that “when there is vibration a lot of people confuse it to mean crisis. What we are experiencing in Nigeria is vibration.

“We will pass through it. Look at the history of developed countries. They passed through it,” he said.

On the security situation in Benue, Suswam said that it had relatively calmed down and there was relative peace on the clashes between Fulani pastoralists and farmers.

“It has substantially calmed down. We don’t have very serious issues. We have had incidents of where some of the herdsmen raped a woman but we are dealing with that.

“We have arrested them, we are dealing with that through the police and other law enforcement agencies. Outside that, the situation has substantially calmed down.”

He also said the state government was at the verge of signing a deal with Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) to end the six months primary school teachers strike in the state.

“It is an unfortunate situation. I never believed that schools will be closed for six months, but that has happened.

“The fact of the matter is that the state cannot afford to pay what they are asking for. The money is simply not there,’’ he said.

He, however, assured that by the end of the month or early June the primary school teachers would go back the schools.