Following the Monday’s beheading of the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa state, Rev. Lawan Andimi, the national body of CAN has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the heads of all the security agencies in the country. The CAN President, Dr. Samson Ayokunle, told newsmen on Thursday in Abuja that it was wrong for the President to still keep the service chiefs in view of their failure to address the rising insecurity in the country.
Ayokunle, at the briefing attended by other leaders of the CAN, also declared Friday, 31st January to 2nd February, 2020 as days for special fasting and prayer for Nigeria in all churches, over the killings of innocent Nigerians to stop and for the government to develop capacity to overcome the criminals troubling the nation. “Is the government and the security agencies still claiming that the war against Boko Haram and killer-herdsmen has been won despite all the killings?
“Is the government sincere in fighting these terrorists or merely paying lip service to the war against the insurgency? “Can the government tell us what they did since Rev. Andimi cried out to them for help?” the CAN president queried. He added: “the President should overhaul the security council with a view of bringing in new heads of all the security agencies and the para-military which no religion or part of the country will dominate.
“If the security agencies claim the terrorists are operating outside the country, why is it possible for these hoodlums to invade the country, kill, maim, burn and kidnap without any convincing checks on the part of the security agencies? “If the security agencies are not living up to the expectations of the government, why hasn’t it overhauled them with a view of injecting new visionary ones into the security system? “As long as the government continues to live in denial and fail to face the reality, these criminals will not stop their criminalities.
“We are almost losing hope in government’s ability to protect Nigerians especially Christians who have become endangered species under its watch. “We once again call on the international community and the developed world like the US, the UK, Germany, Israel and others to please come to our aid in Nigeria, especially, the Nigerian Church so that we might not be eliminated one by one.”
He asked the federal government to label the Miyetti Allah association as a terrorist organisation and also ordered for the arrest and prosecution of their leadership for sponsoring and perpetuating crimes and the killings in Southern Kaduna, Benue, Plateau and Taraba states, among others.
He also asked the government to stop releasing the so-called repented terrorists since they are reportedly joining their colleagues in the forest to unleash terror on the land. “The Federal Government should reverse the recent controversial Police promotion with a view to balancing religious and ethnic divides in the country.
“It is painful and a betrayal to note that the government gives more attention to so-called repentant terrorists than the victims of their evil with the claim that they are being reinstated and rehabilitated, even into the Nigerian Army. This is a major contradiction,” he added.
