Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the February 2023 has reacted following discovery of 80 bodies, including 20 headless ones and countless skeletons in Abia State.
The politician expressed shock, saying such barbaric killings shows how insecure the country has become.
Recall that Abia State governor, Alex Otti, had said the corpses were discovered by security operatives during a raid of the forest around the Lokpanta Cattle Market in the Umunneochi axis of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway.
Reacting to the development in a thread on his official X page on Thursday, November 2, Obi described the development as “barbaric and cruel.”
Obi stated: “I read the bone-chilling story coming out of Abia State, where over 80 bodies were reportedly recovered around the cattle market, with about 20 headless decomposing bodies.
“This level of barbarism and extremely cruel acts only reflects how insecure our environment has been.
“It unearths how insecurity has continued to ravage many parts of the country, taking innocent lives and killing the economy.
“I thank the Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti, for taking such a bold step against insecurity in the State. This is highly emulatable.”
Obi further said that while he was governor of Anambra, he faced a similar situation.
He said: “I recall facing a similar situation in 2013 as the Governor of Anambra State. I was accompanying President Goodluck Jonathan to an official engagement outside the country when I received the sad report of about 35 decomposing bodies floating on the Ezu River, Anambra.
“I had to leave everything to rush back to the state to attend to the situation and ensure that order was restored in the vicinity.
“Investigation was immediately commenced, with autopsies conducted, before the Federal Government took over the process and asked the State Government to hand it off.”
Obi added that the security of lives and property remains the primary duty of any government and the key to any meaningful development.
He called on governments at all levels to make more efforts to tackle insecurity in the country.
Obi said: “Security of lives and property remains the primary duty of any government and the key to any meaningful development we hope to experience as a nation. We must therefore prioritize it. I encourage governments at all levels to make more efforts to combat insecurity in the nation.”