Jos Tragedy: Ezekwesili Condemns Government Inaction, Calls for Accountability

Founder of the School of Politics, Policy, and Governance (SPPG), Oby Ezekwesili, has condemned the federal government’s response to the recent killings in Jos, Plateau State, describing it as “unconscionable indifference” to the bloodshed of innocent citizens.

In a statement issued to journalists yesterday in Abuja, Ezekwesili recounted the harrowing scenes of grief captured in social media videos, where a mother reportedly held her dying son in her arms before succumbing to heartbreak herself.

“Like many mothers, tears have been rolling down my eyes since watching the video of our fellow mother, delirious and holding on to her son as he died in her arms,” Ezekwesili said. “Then, according to reports, she died too, her heart shattered by grief no mother should ever know.”

She criticised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and political allies for focusing on party conventions and power struggles while Nigerians were being killed.

“You wicked rulers of Nigeria were printing banners and celebrating yourselves while this mother and her son died in the pool of his blood, alongside several other innocent citizens,” Ezekwesili said.

Ezekwesili accused the government of failing in its duty to protect citizens from terrorist attacks, alleging that its inaction and indifference have contributed to a culture of impunity.

She asked pointed questions directed at the president and the ruling party: “Do you know what manner of leaders feast while their people are being slaughtered?” “Do you know what kind of leaders watch the gory images of their dead citizens again and again?”

“Do you know what manner of leaders, with the power to protect lives, merely respond with silence, press releases, or ineffective committees?”

She warned that the continued normalisation of violence in Nigeria cannot persist.

“That mother and her son are dead. Their blood is on the hands of those who looked away, who chose a convention hall over a command centre,” she said.

The activist called on Nigerians to channel their grief into collective action. “Our grief and prayers must become collective fury. Our collective fury must become a demand. And that collective demand must have consequences at this time. Jos is bleeding. Nigeria is bleeding. Nigerians are bleeding. Silence is complicity,” she added.

Ezekwesili’s statement comes amid rising public outrage over the killings, which have highlighted the ongoing insecurity in Plateau State and across parts of northern Nigeria.