Atiku, Turaki condemn Plateau killings, blame security agencies

By Lateef Ibrahim Abuja

Two presidential aspirants on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Minister of Special Duties, Alhaji Tanimu Turaki-have condemned the latest killings in Plateau State, blaming the security approach of the current administration for the development.
Atiku and Turaki condemned the killings in separate interviews with journalists after holding consultative meetings with the Forum of PDP Former State House of Assemblies Presiding Officers in Abuja.
The former Vice President, who described the killings as unfortunate, said “I just listened to a former deputy speaker, a lady for that matter, and she made two points; hard and soft powers in resolving the crisis. I like that idea.
“It is not every security breach you use hard power on. You need to establish dialogue between leadership of various communities that lived together over the years.
“So the issue of using mere crude and hard power is not the only solution. There is also the need to use soft power on the issue of peaceful coexistence between communities”, he said.
Commenting on the last Saturday’s national convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku, a former chieftain of the party (APC) said tha it (the convention) lacks the experience and capacity of the PDP.
His words, “I think the people of Nigeria need to sit down and evaluate APC and PDP. There is nothing about APC.’’
Also, the former Minister of Special Duties under the immediate past administration of Dr Goodluck Jonathan, Alhaji Turaki blamed the killings on the failure of APC-led Federal Government.
According to him, “If you recall, few months ago, the National Security Agency had appeared before the Senate and disclosed that the greatest problem that the Nigeria security agencies have today is that the agencies work at cross purposes.”
He commiserated with the people and government of Plateau over the loss of lives.
Turaki, however, expressed confidence that the PDP had all it takes to reclaim the leadership of Nigeria in 2019 and return the country to the path of prosperity.
Chairman of the forum, Mr Inuwa Garba, said the purpose of their meeting with the presidential aspirants was to properly guided them on which of the presidential aspirants to vote for during the parties primary.