Buhari, mouth piece of terrorists – PDP reacts over Presidency’s comments on rice farmers

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has berated the Presidency over remarks by President Muhammadu Buhari’s aide, Garba Shehu on Boko Haram killing of rice farmers in Borno State and accused the Presidency of trying to rationalize the gruesome killing of 43 innocent Nigerians by terrorists in their farms.

According to DailyPost, the party lamented that the Buhari-led Presidency was trying to turn itself into a mouthpiece for terrorists.

Recall that Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu had said that the farmers who were killed by Boko Haram on Saturday did not have military clearance to be on the rice farms. Shehu said this in an interview with BBC on Monday, stating further that people need to know what it is like in the Lake Chad Basin area.

“Much of those areas have been liberated from Boko Haram terrorists but there are a number of spaces that have not been cleared for the return of villagers who have been displaced. So, ideally, all of these places ought to pass the test of military clearances before farmers or settlers resume activities on those fields,” he had said.

Reacting, PDP’s spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan said, “The PDP is outraged by the claims that the farmers were killed because they failed to get clearance before going to their farms, a statement, which is also an admission that the Buhari administration has been overwhelmed by terrorists and can no longer guarantee our compatriots a normal life.

“Our party submits that it is weird, reprehensible and repulsive that the Buhari Presidency now seeks to turn itself into a mouthpiece of terrorists by this subtle attempt to rationalize the killing of innocent and hardworking Nigerians.

“This unpatriotic stance smacks of support for acts of terrorism and the mindless killing of our compatriots by a government whose Commander-in-Chief had promised Nigerians to lead the battle against insurgents from the front. Our party is forced to hold that attitudes such as the unpatriotic remark of the Buhari Presidency embolden insurgents in their ceaseless attacks in our country.”