A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Niger State, Comrade Jonathan Vatsa, says Nigeria has lost count of innocent lives that have been taken in the last five years owing to the increase in crime rate in the country.
The APC chieftain, who spoke with newsmen on Wednesday, also threw his weight behind the National Assembly’s call for the immediate sack of the Service Chiefs, saying the blood of innocent Nigerians are now cheaper than water.
While condemning the recent killings of over 70 farmers by the dreaded Boko Haram Terrorists in Zabarmari, Jere Local Government Area of Borno State, the former Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism in Niger State said the time to listen to the voices of Nigerians was now.
Vatsa, who spoke to selected Journalists in Minna, the Niger State capital, said there is no gainsaying that the country has lost count on innocent Nigerians that have been killed in the last five years.
He said: “More lives have been wasted since this administration came on board.
“I wonder why President Muhammadu Buhari is still keeping the Service Chiefs despite cries by well meaning Nigerians.”
It should be noted that the Borno State Commissioner for Information, Babakura Abba Jatau, had said the death toll from Saturday’s attack of farmers by the Boko Haram Terrorists had risen to 76, adding: “Forty-three bodies were buried on Sunday and another 33 were buried on Monday.”
Reacting to killing of the rice farmers in Borno State, Vatsa, who was the APC Publicity Secretary in Niger State, said: “Lives have become the cheapest thing in Nigeria today.
“Blood is cheaper than even water in the country.
“Nigerians are being killed as if we are in war.
“The harvest of deaths across the country in recent time appears as if the country has no leadership.
“There is no any justification for the President to continue keeping the Service Chiefs.”
Vatsa pointed out that there is no better way to describe a government that cannot protect lives and property of its people than total failure, stressing that the inability of this government to protect the lives of Nigerians has further de-marketed the APC as a ruling party.
According to him: “It is obvious that the Service Chiefs can no longer add any value to the security of the country.
“In all honesty, I want to believe that they (Service Chiefs) are even tired of the whole security situation and are waiting to be let go.
“The President must listen to calls by the National Assembly because they are the representatives of the people.
“They are lawmakers and they are speaking the minds of over 200 million Nigerians they represent.”
Vatsa, who is now the Coordinator, Public Affairs to the Governor of Niger State, Abubakar Sani Bello, urged President Buhari to be courageous enough to apologise to Nigerians over the security situation in the country.
In his words: “If Nigerians can’t see food to eat, at least they should be able to move freely.
“The entire country is right now under siege.
“This is most unfortunate.
“Nigerians didn’t bargain for this when they voted wholeheartedly for the President.
“So, therefore, he must do the needful to protect them.
“Every Nigerian is living in fear in his house today not to talk of traveling on our roads, which are now most deadliest.”
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