President Muhammadu Buhari says the killers of the 16 Nigerian pilgrims gruesomely murdered in Burkina Faso will be punished.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by the president’s senior special assistant on media and publicity, Garba Shehu.
16 members of Jam’iyyatu Ansariddeen Attijaniyya of Nigeria who were on a pilgrimage to the home country of their leader, Sheikhul-Islam Ibrahim Niasse in Senegal were stopped and shot dead by Burkinabe soldiers on patrol.
According to the national secretary of the Islamic group, Sayyidi Yahaya, the members were “randomly selected and cold-bloodedly shot to death in a most horrendous display of bestiality.”
Speaking on the incident on Monday, President Muhammadu Buhari said he “received the tragic news of the murder of a number of Nigerian Muslim pilgrims on their way to Kaolak, Senegal, when the buses conveying them came under gun attack in Burkina Faso.”
While condoling with the families of the deceased, President Buhari stated that “the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Nigerian Embassy in Burkina Faso, is engaging with the Burkinabe authorities and awaits the outcome of their investigation of the unfortunate incident, and if necessary, to ensure that all culprits are appropriately sanctioned.”
Buhari added that the Nigerian Government would make every effort to secure the mortal remains of the deceased and the survivors of the attack.
