THE Presidency has warned against any form of reprisals in the wake of killing of a pregnant woman and her four children by suspected members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in Anambra.
The victims, who are from Adamawa State, were murdered in the Orumba Local Government Area of the state on Sunday.
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They were identified as Harira Jubril and her children–Fatima, Aisha, Hadiza, and Zaituna.
In an interview with BBC News, the woman’s husband, Ahmed Jubril, said the incident was his worst experience.
According to him, the wife was expected to give birth this week.
These latest killings have sparked a lot of angry condemnations by Nigerians on social media, with many demanding that the perpetrators must be brought to book.
Reacting in a statement on Wednesday, presidential spokesman Garba Shehu described the killings as “wild” and “barbarous”.
He cautioned against any knee-jerk reactions that could lead to panic, disruption of lives and livelihoods, and retaliatory violence in any part of the country because of the incident.
“While expert agencies are now verifying the factuality and veracity of the claims that accompany the horrid pictures being circulated, we call on all citizens to avoid hasty steps or conclusions that could exacerbate the situation, and on the contrary keep to a line of conduct that will help the law to take its proper course,” Shehu said in the statement.
The presidential spokesman also cautioned the public against indiscriminate sharing of posts on social media, so as to deny vested interests “who seek to divide us and create disturbance the chance to do so”.
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