President Muhammadu Buhari has warned Nigerians against playing into the hands of the agents of disunity in the country.
The president gave the warning on Thursday as he reacted to the spate of killings and the religious tone given to it.
The president said the incessant killings were part of the grand design to destabilise the country.
The position of the president is contained in a statement issued by his media aide, Mallam Garba Shehu.
The statement reads: “Repeated acts of mass killings and destruction in parts of the country and Benue State in particular, point to the evil design of enemies of peace and unity who have desperately been trying to bring the country to this sorry point: a brother killing brother, a neighbour killing a neighbour and a community attacking and killing members of another community.
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“The President strongly warns citizens against playing into the hands of the agents of disunity.
“President Buhari says those behind the Church attack that left 18 people dead, including two Priests, did not mean well for Nigeria and peaceful coexistence.
“The revenge attacks that followed in which 11 members of the Hausa communities were killed are part of the agenda of the bandits and their sponsors to turn Nigerians against one another. We must resist all temptation to fall into this laid out plan.”
The president is said to be greatly pained by the violence and the total disregard for the sanctity of life by those he called “these hideously evil people who have no iota of respect for humanity, decency and civilisation.”
The president reiterated that the government would not rest on its oars in its determination to fish out the “barbarous mass murderers and their clandestine sponsors.”
President Buhari equally assured Nigerians that measures were being put in place by the government will, sooner than later, bring to an end, the extremely brutal and wanton killings.
