From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has described as senseless the loss of lives seen in Borno State and Katsina State over the last 48 hours.
According to a statement by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, Buhari, while assuring that he holds the victims in his thoughts and prayers, vowed that the perpetrators will be brought to justice.
He explained that 56,000 Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists have surrendered to the authorities in a year and still counting.
President Buhari noted that these terrorists and bandits have been reduced to “scavenging from our artisanal miners and farmers for survival is evidence that they are backed into a corner.
“This will be small comfort to the family members and loved ones of those murdered this week. But it is in times like these that we must be at our strongest.
“Now more than ever Nigerians must come together, in proud defiance of those who would seek through terror and violence to divide us along religious, political or ethnic lines.
“And so while we are in mourning for those we have lost, let us face these cowards already fading in strength, number and willpower as one.
“Let us show them that Nigerians will not be swayed by terror. Let us show them that Nigerians will not be divided. Let us show them we will not be defeated.”