The All Progressives Congress (APC) Youth Forum in Zamfara has strongly criticised governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for holding a political meeting in the state just days after dozens of innocent people were killed by bandits.
Zamfara has suffered repeated armed attacks, with a recent report revealing that 144 persons were kidnapped, 24 killed, and 16 injured across several local government areas.
Despite this tragedy, the PDP Governors’ Forum convened a meeting in Gusau on Saturday, August 23, which the APC Youth Forum described as insensitive and disrespectful to victims and their families.
In a statement issued on Monday by its publicity secretary, Muhammed Ibrahim, the group said:
“Instead of the governors rallying around their beleaguered colleague to help find solutions to the bloodshed, they chose to stage a political rally at the very scene of mass murder, even if it meant trampling on the memory of the victims.”
The statement further faulted the optics of the meeting:
“The photos of PDP governors in full ceremonial robes, grinning for the camera, are totally out of place in an environment that still reeks of so much blood and sorrow.”
The APC Youth Forum also accused Governor Dauda Lawal Dare of failing in his primary duty to protect lives and property in Zamfara, stressing that his administration has shown more interest in hosting political allies than confronting the security crisis ravaging the state.
“This act alone underlines an important fact: neither Governor Dauda Lawal Dare nor his PDP colleagues care about the people and their suffering. Their actions show that politics and power mean more to them than human lives,” the statement concluded.
