Dumebi Kachikwu: Spate of killings meant to portray government as weak ahead of 2027

Dumebi Kachikwu, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, says the surge in killings across the country is part of a deliberate effort to portray the government as weak ahead of the 2027 polls.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday, Kachikwu decried the recurring violence in the middle belt and its media portrayal as “farmer-herder clashes or banditry”.

He said the victims of the attacks are often described as “scores or hundreds killed” without any mention of their identities.

“They were fathers to children, wives to husbands, children to parents, family, friends and neighbours to us and Nigerians like you and me,” the statement reads.

“They had names like Gyang, Dalyop, Gonsum, Silas, Mary, Yohana. They had names like Dogonyaro, Beni, Sarah, Ochekpe, Yakubu, Danladi and Josephine.

“They will continue to live on in our hearts and we will make sure those who they have left behind don’t mourn alone.

“We are being conditioned to believe that human lives no longer matter in this country.

” In the last one week, we now see that the spate of bombings has resumed in the northern part of the country.

“I would like us all to think back and see that the same playbook that was used by desperate politicians during the Jonathan presidency is at play here again.

“Sponsor as many killings, maiming and kidnappings as possible — all designed to make the government of the day look incapable and alter the political equation leading into the 2027 general elections, while they sell themselves to us as saviours.”

The former presidential candidate asked Nigerians to question the motives of politicians claiming to be on a “rescue mission”.

“Consider their average ages and what they do for a living, their major livelihood is from politics and the perks of office, and as such they will pay any price to be in office — including the shedding of innocent blood,” he said.

Kachikwu asked Nigerians to remember the past, reject political deception, and prayed for grieving families and divine mercy upon the nation’s future.