The Presidency says tackling banditry and terrorism remains Federal Government’s first priority, as President Muhammadu Buhari holds the victims and their families in his thoughts and prayers.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity Garba Shehu stated this in a statement in Abuja while responding to Sunday’s Daily Trust editorial: “Life has lost its value under Buhari’s Nigeria’’.
He also described the editorial as unfair comments, saying Daily Trust’s suggestion that Buhari exchanges violence for the support he got electorally is beneath a publication that claims any kind of political neutrality or integrity.
The Presidential aide however, admitted that the Daily Trust had correctly identified the source of the violence as “an amalgam of many complex issues” such as poverty and unemployment.
He also noted that the growing number of threats from Boko Haram, kidnappers and IPOB to the run-of-the-mill bandits, saying Nigerian forces are stretched increasingly thin.
According to Garba, such areas include proscribing Boko Haram, bandits and IPOB as terrorist groups, which will severely dent their funding; for investment in trade and infrastructure, and to help lessen economic instability.
