A frontline politician, Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim has commiserated with the government and people of Benue State on the killings in the state which seem to have defied logic and solutions.
Media reports indicate that at least 100 people have been killed in an attack by gunmen in a village in the state, according to Amnesty International Nigeria.
Sources said the attack took place from late Friday into the early hours of Saturday in the village of Yelwata.
Benue State is in Nigeria’s North Central zone, a region with a predominantly Christian population within Northern Nigeria.
The region faces competition over land use, with conflicts between herders, who seek grazing land for their cattle, and farmers, who need arable land for cultivation.
Last month, at least 42 people were shot dead by suspected herders in a series of weekend attacks across Gwer West district in Nigeria’s central Benue State.
Olawepo-Hashim said that this is the time for President Bola Tinubu to end the killings as the Commander-in-Chief not to politically grand stand. ‘No excuses, no finger pointing, just end the killings. The bloodletting has gone on for far too long’, he said.
Meanwhile, the one-time presidential candidate has also condoled with the Christian community in the neighbouring Plateau State over the death of the Chairman of the Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Fr. Polycarp Lubo.
In a condolence letter to the state’s CAN, he said that ‘our heart aches for you in this trying period’.
Olawepo-Hashim added that ‘we celebrate the Late Chairman’s remarkable leadership, dedication to duty and service to the body of Christ’.
While praying for peace, strength and guidance in the days ahead, he maintained that the legacy of the Late Lubo will continue to guide the body of Christ in the state.
