TheCable

Vice-President Yemi Osibajo has dismissed the religious colourations attached to the killings in Benue state.

Osibajo, who is Benue on a two-day working visit, said this on Tuesday during a stakeholders meeting in Makurdi, the state capital.

“Persecutions have always been with Christians and it is the duty of Christians to stop it,” NAN quoted him as saying.

“The gospel of Jesus cannot be killed by anybody; it is not fragile or written on a piece of paper.”

The vice-president also denied claims that the killings in Benue were the outcome of a planned agenda to eliminate the people.

Osinbajo said the federal government is determined to prove such insinuations false by rebuilding all damaged communities in the country.

He said the anger and disappointment expressed by the people at the meeting was “right and justified” but assured that government was committed to providing security for their protection.

He said there were several interventions that had been initiated to make life bearable for them.

The vice-president assured that the government would “dig deep into the root cause of the crises to find lasting solutions to it”.

He said the recent recruitments into the various arms of the security agencies was aimed at providing effective security protection to the people, especially communities under frequent attacks.

The vice-president also condoled with the Catholic Church for the attack on its priests and worshippers at Saint Ignatius Parish Mbalom where 18 people including two Catholic priests were killed by suspected armed herdsmen.

Earlier in an address, Samuel Ortom, Benue governor, called on the federal government to fish out the killers of the two priests and their parishioners that were murdered in cold blood by gunmen.

He also called for more humanitarian aid to the state to handle the displaced people who were living in inappropriate sanitary conditions.