• Christians protest to honour victims of Plateau killings
Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has alleged the lack of empathy against thePresident Bola Tinubu-led administration, to explain the worsening insecurity and economic challenges.
Amid renewed attacks and mounting death tolls, Christians in Plateau State, yesterday, staged a peace walk in protest against the incessant killings in the state.
Describing the President’s absence during national tragedies as insensitive, CISLAC said Nigerians were forced to watch their leader move from city to city abroad while their own communities suffer.
The Executive Director, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, in an Easter message, yesterday, noted that the holy season, which symbolises sacrifice, renewal and hope, instead become a painful reminder of government’s failure, deepening hardship, and widespread bloodshed across the country.
While demanding an end to the nation’s growing trauma and calling for collective action against the killings of innocent Nigerians, Rafsanjani said the season was meant for deep reflection for individuals and leaders.
The organisation cited the brutal killings in Benue and Plateau states, along with sustained violence in Zamfara, Katsina, Niger and Kwara, as evidence of a nation in crisis and a government detached from the suffering of its people.
He said: “The ongoing wave of violence, including the attacks on Logo and Gbagir communities in Ukum Local Council of Benue, and the horrific massacres in Plateau that claimed over 50 lives paints a harrowing picture. These are not isolated incidents; they are symptoms of a much deeper crisis: a breakdown in governance and a failure of the state to protect its people.”
THE peace walk, under the joint leadership of the Church Denominational Leaders Forum and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Plateau chapter, was also a tribute to the victims and a cry for justice.
The participants (men, women, the elderly, and youths) marched through the streets to register their anguish and frustration over the rising insecurity in the North Central region.
The inscriptions on some of the banners read: ‘That they die not in vain. Stop the killings. Stop the bloodshed. Every life matters; let Plateau live.’
According to the organisers, the protest was a direct response to the continuous and bloody assaults on Plateau communities, especially those killed in recent attacks on Ruwi, Hurti, and Zikke in Bokkos and Bassa local government areas.
“Their death should not be in vain,” a church leader said during the march.
Plateau and neighbouring Benue have been gripped by a fresh wave of violence in recent weeks, largely blamed on bandits.
