North-central governors to visit Plateau over killings, says Abdullahi Sule

Abdullahi Sule, governor of Nasarawa, says governors of the north-central states will be visiting Plateau to intervene in the security crisis bedevilling the state. 

Sule spoke on Sunday while addressing journalists after a visit to President Bola Tinubu in Lagos.

Plateau, one of the six north-central states in Nigeria, has recently suffered attacks that resulted in the death of over 100 residents in about 17 communities.

Sule, who is the chairman of the north-central governors forum, said the purpose of their visit would be to engage major stakeholders in the state.

“I’m also the chairman of the north-central governors forum. So, I told Mr. President about some of the things happening in our own zone, including issues in Plateau,” NAN quoted Sule as saying.

“Mr. President is very concerned about the security of the people and very concerned about what is happening on the Plateau and what is happening in the north-east and most especially in the north-central.

“We are going to Plateau and we’re going to use the opportunity to talk to some major stakeholders or major actors.

“These issues of the Plateau are not the first time if you remember. I visited governor Lalong when they had a similar situation.

“And it was an opportunity that I went with some traditional rulers, some religious leaders, and we were able to speak with a lot of people and since then, there had been some level of sanity until what just happened.

“The vice president visited and he was able to get a lot of information and when we also want to visit, I will talk to different kinds of people at the different level.

“I will be able to get more information that will feed Mr. President and wait for him to take proper action.”

On his part, Umar Bago, governor of Niger, said the Plateau massacre was “a very unfortunate situation”.

Bago said the north-central governors would be visiting Plateau to discuss strategic issues and find a solution to the crisis.

“Yes, it’s quite unfortunate, you know, Niger state and other states in north central have also been victims of this kind of carnage. But that of Plateau is very unfortunate. And we are hoping that it does not repeat itself,” he said.

“We’ll go and pay a condolence visit to commiserate with the people affected by this issue. Other issues are not issues for camera. They are strategic issues that we must discuss.

“But the most important is that we need to start discussion. When we start talking to each other as a people, we need to bring out people’s voices to be heard. You know, a lot of these issues are just egocentric.”