Abuja --------------- President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria is in mourning over the senseless killings of innocent citizens in Borno and Katsina States states in the last 48 hours.

Buhari's reaction was contained in a statement signed by his spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, on Wednesday in Abuja, saying that the  president vowed that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.

“The perpetrators will be brought to justice and they are running scared,’’ Shehu quoted the president as having said, adding that 56,000 Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists had surrendered to the authorities in the past year even as more were still surrendering.

His words, “That these terrorists and bandits have been reduced to scavenging from our artisanal miners and farmers for survival is evidence that they are boxed 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.

“While we mourn 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."