Professor of theology and social ethics, Prof. Yusuf Turaki, has lampooned federal government for the spate of insecurity in Nigeria, alleging that government knows kidnappers and bandits and pays them to the detriment of the nation’s security.
This is just as Vice President Yemi Osinbajo assured Nigerians that with faith and prayer, insecurity including kidnapping and banditry would soon become a thing of the past as the country would soon overcome them.
Addressing a One-day Peace and Security Summit, organised by Kaduna state chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) held at ECWA Goodnews Church, Narayi, Kaduna on Tuesday, Prof. Turaki lamented that insecurity has taken over the country.
The Middle Belt leader in his lead keynote address at the Summit with the theme, “Nigeria’s Insecurity: The Church’s Response in the 21st Century”, noted that violence has taken over the country to the extent that every segment of the society now speaks violence, as everybody becomes overwhelmed with violence.
Prof. Turaki, who disagreed with politicians who are blaming the killings in Middle Belt on farmers’/herders’ clash, said, “these are foreign Fulani who have been allowed to enter Nigeria so that they could help their brothers in Nigeria to kill innocent citizens and wreck havoc on our ancestral lands.
“These Fulani occupy the lands, carrying AK47, killing people, destroying communities in the Middle Belt and other parts of the country. And the government knows them, government pays them to destroy ancestral lands. Politicians know the bandits that enter Nigeria, but they will not tell us.
“Politicians have devised a wrong narrative that is deceptive, saying it is farmers/herders clash in Middle Belt, if it is clash, how comes Fulani are carrying AK47 to kill the people. Nigeria is well blessed with intelligent people but they cannot up till today solve insecurity in the country. Something terrible has befallen our country. God, open the mouths of the people, let them speak the truth and die for the truth.
“What the Fulani are doing now is exactly what Sokoto jihadists did in those old days. They kidnapped and asked people to pay ransom in those days. If you cannot pay, they sold you into slavery or killed you. So, kidnapping is not different from what happened during the Sokoto jihadists war. They captured infidels.It is being repeated now in Nigeria.”
The Vice President, who was the Special Guest of Honour at the Summit, likened Nigeria’s socio-economic challenges to that of a woman in a labour room, saying that after much pains, there will be celebration by the people, when they eventually overcome the hardship.
Represented by the Villa Chaplain, Pastor Joseph Oluseyi Malomo, Prof. Osinbajo said, “we all desired a nation devoid of any form of kidnapping and terrorism. We have heard prophecies of a shining Nigeria, we are longing for the day those prophecies will come to reality. We need to fight the fight of faith because God’s plans for the greatness of Nigeria has not changed, it will surely come.
“We need to pray for Nigeria. Many are weighed down because of problems they are going through, we must as Christians keep the altars of God burning with prayers to overcome these problems. We must keep faith and see the problems we are going through as bread.
“God will take us to the promised land of a great nation with great value. We must reject politics of identity and ethnicity. Nigeria is going to be a shining nation, and insecurity will soon end.”
