CITIZEN MONITORS PRESS CENTER:

Citizen Monitors is deeply alarmed by the President’s response to the recent massacre in Benue State, where over 100, possibly 200 Nigerians were slaughtered in cold blood. The nation expected moral clarity and urgent action. Instead, we received a generic statement marked by false equivalence, political deflection, and a dangerous lack of empathy.

To call this a “conflict with sides” is a grave mischaracterization. Civilians - many already displaced were butchered in their sleep. This is not a time for balance. It is a time for accountability.

The President’s decision to direct security agencies to act “on all sides” of an undefined conflict ignores the asymmetry of violence and evades the state’s responsibility to protect the vulnerable. His call for restraint from “political and community leaders” shifts the blame away from federal inaction and years of unchecked killings.

Furthermore, we urge the judiciary to expedite the hearing of suits challenging this unconstitutional action and to uphold its role as the guardian of the Constitution. The courts must act decisively to check any overreach of executive authority and to preserve the democratic framework of our nation.

Democracy thrives when the will of the people is respected and upheld. Any deviation from constitutional governance not only threatens the stability of Rivers State but also endangers the democratic fabric of Nigeria as a whole.

We ask:

• Who are these ‘sides’? Name them.
• Where is the justice for the dead?
• What does a Wednesday visit accomplish after yet another preventable bloodbath?

Calling for dialogue while bodies are still being counted is not statesmanship — it’s abandonment dressed as diplomacy.

We demand:

• A full withdrawal and retraction of this tone-deaf, equivocal statement
• Immediate naming, arrest, and prosecution of perpetrators - not vague directives
• Real security deployment to vulnerable areas - not photo ops

Leadership must begin with truth. And the truth is that this massacre happened on the government’s watch. If the current leadership cannot acknowledge that, or take swift, unambiguous action - then it is time for that leadership to step aside.