THE President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Reverend Samson Ayokunle has commiserated with the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN) as it conducts mass burial for the two priests and parishioners killed by the Fulani herdsmen in Benue State recently.
He described the present moment in Nigeria as a trying time for the church, adding, “We also urge all Christians to identify with the Catholic Church in its nationwide peaceful protest against senseless killings in Nigeria.
CAN urged the Nigerian security agencies to rise up to the security challenges in the country. It contends that security operatives have no excuse, while no one should be blamed for the failure to stop the unending senseless killings in Nigeria.
The Christian apex body expressed dismay that killing of innocent is assuming global embarrassment with mass burial being carried out at all times without a country like Nigeria fighting a war.
CAN, therefore, called on President Muhammadu Buhari not to forget his 2015 campaign promises including fighting insecurity and keeping Nigeria united and upon which Nigerians overwhelmingly voted for him. Buhari’s government should not fold arms and watch misguided Nigerians, mostly Boko Haram and herdsmen promote killing as a past a time in the name of politics and ethnic while solution appears very elusive.
In its statement, CAN said, “It is disheartening to note that criminal Fulani herdsmen, bandits, kidnappers and other hoodlums have reduced Nigeria to a Banana Republic.
“This development is unacceptable and we call on all well-meaning people anywhere in the world to join hands in praying for the deliverance, freedom and liberty from this self-inflicted bondage.”
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“While CAN is not opposed to the President’s exercise of his civic right by seeking re-election to the office for the second time, we urge him to halt it meanwhile and attend to the security problems occasioned by the criminal activities of the terrorists, herdsmen and bandits.
CAN, however, asked President Buhari to suspend his re-election bid until he restores sanity to the country while ensuring the release of Leah Sharibu, the remaining Chibok girls and other abductees from the captivity of the Boko Haram terrorists.
It said Buhari’s ongoing campaign for re-election without plans to stop the state of anomie in Nigeria is scary, making Nigerians to believe that Nigeria had more than before become unsafe, more for Christians and ethnic groups marked for genocide.
CAN prayed for comfort to the bereaved, accelerated recovery to those who are recuperating from the wounds and multiple injuries sustained from terror attacks in the past years and few months.
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