The youth wing of the Urhobo Progress Union (Ighelle r’ Urhobo) has criticized the statement credited to President Muhammadu Buhari that he would treat militants like the Boko Haram sect if they failed to embrace dialogue.
The group claimed that Buhari had contradicted minister of state for Petroleum resources, Ibe Kachikwu, who said that the Federal Government was looking beyond a ceasefire.
This was contained in a statement issued by the National President of Ighelle r’Urhobo, Mr. Ovie Igho.
He said: “If the President at this stage is threatening to use military might when leaders in the region are already appeasing the youths and they had agreed for a dialogue, such statement is condemnable. We will resist such threat from Buhari because we own this country together.
“What the President said runs contrary to what the Petroleum minister told us on Friday when he visited Chief Edwin Clark that the Federal Government was looking beyond a ceasefire. This kind of statement should not be coming from a President who desires a lasting peace in a region that feeds the entire country.”
Igho stressed that it was also important for Buhari to reel out similar threat to Fulani herdsmen who were alleged to be killing people across the country.