Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has spoken out after reports that no fewer than 200 people were killed in Benue State over the past two days.

Fani-Kayode, in a tweet on Monday, described the attackers as “evil barbarians, bloodthirsty aliens & blood-lusting terrorists” and said what happened was unacceptable.

He said the killings of innocent civilians must stop, and those responsible must be found and dealt with.

“This beggars belief & is totally & completely unacceptable. We can no longer condemn & lament about the killing of innocent civilians in other countries & remain silent about the ones being slaughtered with impunity in our own,” Fani-Kayode wrote.

“Such butchery is unconscionable & MUST be brought to an end. Those behind it MUST be identified, exposed & eliminated.”

Fani-Kayode claimed that Nigeria is under attack from violent groups trying to divide the country along ethnic and religious lines.

According to him, “war is being waged against the Nigerian state and the Nigerian people by a ruthless & relentless army of feral psychopaths, genocidal maniacs, vile beasts, and verminous scum.”

He called on Nigerians to unite in resisting the violence, saying, “We must resist them with passion and power! We must be unyielding and unrelenting in our response! We must come together as one & refuse to bite their bait! We must show strength & courage! We must be bold & decisive!”

He said the violence has continued for over 12 years and that it is time for it to be brought to an end.

Fani-Kayode also criticised weak government responses and said violent criminals should never be accepted into the military or treated with mercy.

He stated: “No more excuses, no more long talk, no more limp arrests, no more unending and fruitless due process, no more playing it by the rules, no more lengthy court appearances, no more forgiveness & no more integration of these callous beasts into our Armed Forces: we must be utterly savage & ruthless, we must hunt them down like the animals that they are, we must eliminate them, we must crush them into dust, we must burn them into ashes, we must bury them in unmarked graves, we must avenge our dead & we must make Nigeria safe & great again!”

The former minister also paid tribute to victims of violence across the country over the past 12 years in states including Benue, Plateau, Zamfara, Kwara, Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto, Taraba, Borno, Yobe, and many other parts of our nation.