President Muhammadu Buhari has implored the nation’s courts to apply the strictest punishments against ritual killers, extremists and killers of law enforcement agents.
The President was reacting to series of ritual murders, ethnic and religious hate crimes and persistent attacks on security and law enforcement officers in different parts of the country.
He described the development as aberrations.
In a statement yesterday in Abuja by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, President Buhari tasked security agencies, state and local governments, traditional and religious leaders to be proactive and take lawful actions to prevent further escalation of the situation.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned a rise in ritual killings and deadly attacks against on-duty policemen and ethnic minorities, with the latest incidents reported in Enugu, Imo, Abia, Zamfara and Ogun states.
“President Buhari said incidents of ritual killings, hate crimes, and killing of law enforcement officers are aberrations.
“In expressing the sympathy of the nation to families of all the victims, President Buhari urged law enforcement agencies, state governments, local authorities, community and religious leaders to take all lawful actions to prevent further incidents of this nature and to put in place measures against the normalisation of these primitive acts, hate crimes and acts of terror,” the statement said.
The President, according to the statement, also said: “I condemn these dastardly acts of violence and pray for the souls of the departed.”
He directed that the courts of the land must apply “the strictest of punishment under our laws to the perpetrators of these horrific crimes”.
Also, President Buhari has praised the Abia State government for the actions it took on an incident that happened a few days ago against traders at the New Cattle Market in Ukwa Local Government Area and appealed for calm.
He sympathised with the families of those killed and suffered loss of property during the attacks.
