Buhari raises the alarm over ritual killings, deadly attacks on innocents

President Muhammadu Buhari, in a week of special security concern, condemned a rise in ritual killings and deadly attacks against on-duty policemen and ethnic minorities.

Buhari’s concerns followed the latest incidents reported in Enugu, Imo, Abia, Zamfara and Ogun States.

The president frowned at the incidents of ritual killings, hate crimes and killing of law enforcement officers, saying these were aberrations.

Buhari in a statement by his media aide, Malam Garba Shehu, expressed sympathy to families of the victims.

He urged law enforcement agencies, state governments, local authorities, community and religious leaders to take all lawful actions to prevent further occurrence of such incidents.

He also charged the security agencies to put in place measures against such primitive acts including hate crimes and acts of terror.

Before departing for Brussels on February 15, the president had hosted Gov. Hope Uzodinma of Imo.

Uzodinma had briefed the president on socio-economic developments and security situation in his state.

The governor informed the president of the electricity potential in Nworie River in the state, and the Nigerian leader had also given the approval for the commencement of conceptual designs for the power generating project.

‘“The president welcomed the idea of using the Nworie River in Imo State to generate and boost electricity supply in the state,” he said.

Also on February 15, the president also met behind closed door with Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi.

Bello noted that Kogi had been enjoying relative peace and stability in recent times due to new security measures introduced in the state.

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo also presided over the virtual meeting of the Federal Executive Council on February 16.

The Council approved the National Policy on the Government, Second Level Domain, aimed at safeguarding official communications using government top-level domain of “dot government dot ng’’.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, disclosed this when he addressed State House correspondents on the outcome of the meeting.

Pantami said with the approval of the policy, government officials must now migrate from using generic domain in their websites and their emails to the second level domain under the government top-level domain.

According to him, the use of private email like yahoo.com; hotmail.com or gmail.com for official communications by government officials will no longer be tolerated.

The Council also approved 2.8 million dollars for the procurement of rolling stocks operational maintenance equipment for Ibadan to Kano standard gauge and Port Harcourt to Maiduguri narrow gauge railway projects.
The rolling stocks are consumables meant for the maintenance and operation of the railway.

The president, who returned to Abuja after attending the sixth Europe-Africa Summit in Brussels, Belgium, on Saturday, departed the country on February 16, to join other African and European leaders to discuss issues of mutual concerns to both continents.

These included; Financing for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth; Climate Change and Energy Transition, Digital and Transport (Connectivity and Infrastructure); Peace, Security and Governance; and Private Sector Support and Economic Integration.

While in Brussels, the President apart from actively participating in the sixth EU-AU Summit, held various bilateral meetings with world leaders including the Presidents of Algeria, South Africa, and the Prime Minister of Ethiopia under the auspices of the “G4”.

During the G4 meeting, the leaders resolved to strengthen the platform for the resolution of the various issues confronting the African continent.

The G4 Platform, an initiative of the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, was set up toward discussing and proffering solutions, as well as aggregating positions to ensure that the African Union carried its work forward successfully, efficiently and quickly too.

In his contribution at a roundtable discussion on Peace, Security and Governance at the summit, Buhari called on European leaders to lend their weight to measures by the African Union to stem the tide of unconstitutional leadership changes rearing its head again on the continent.

He equally stressed the need to nip the root causes of extremism, conflicts and tensions in Africa at inception.

(The PUNCH)