The wanton killings going on in several parts of the country should give everybody a serious source of worry. In the past few months, there is hardly any day that passes by without killings and destruction of properties. Most recently, Boko Haram insurgents beheaded a Christian leader; Reverend Lawan Andimi along with a soldier, who was brutally killed by the terrorists at the same time. The reverend is said to belong to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and was a local leader of CAN in the Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa State.
Andimi was first abducted early last year when the insurgents stormed Michika, but they were repelled by the military but sadly made away with the reverend as they fled. The insurgents had asked for £2 million but only N 50 million was raised before it was rejected by the abductors. The insurgents had told the deceased’s wife that they would execute him before actually doing so. The Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has just announced the death of the last of four seminarians kidnapped in Kaduna State. The seminarian was kidnapped alongside three other seminarians from the Good Shepherd Major Seminary in Kakau, Kaduna State.
Pained by the senseless killings, notable Nigerians including the General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has led a procession to end the spate of killings in Nigeria. Adeboye, at the end of the church’s monthly thanksgiving service, led the protest from Ebute-Meta through Atan Cemetery in Yaba in Lagos metropolis. Adeboye had led his congregation on prayers for the peace and security of the country. The cleric displayed several placards saying ‘No to further killings’, demanding that both the federal and state governments should rise to their civic responsibility in securing the lives and properties and that the security infrastructure should be completely overhauled.
Similarly, CAN had declared a three-day fasting and prayer, to empower the government and the military forces in the fight against terrorism in the spate of rising cases of killings in the country. The Middle Belt Forum has hailed the arrest of Fulani Ardos and other community leaders in Bokkos, Riyom and other areas over the latest killings in Plateau State and asking Governor Simon Lalong to ensure the prosecution of the perpetrators of the attacks in Kwatta village in Bokkos Local Government Area in which 13 persons were killed and many others seriously wounded.
It advised the governor to curb the continuous assault on the people by establishing a security outfit similar to the Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN) codenamed Operation Amotekun, to arrest further deterioration of the security in the state. Recall that Dachiya Dalep, a student of the University of Maiduguri, was abducted on his way to school from Jos. About 12 days later, the gory video of his gruesome execution surfaced by Boko Haram even though the father of the executed Dalep said the death of his son would not make his family renounce Christianity.
In 2017, the United States House of Representatives had cited Nigeria as the most dangerous place for Christians in the world. In 2019, the US also placed Nigeria on a Special Watch List. It would be recalled that former President Olusegun Obasanjo had alleged that Boko Haram was being ‘empowered’ by the Federal Government, just as CAN, along with other Christian groups, has accused the Federal Government of not doing enough to stop these evil acts.
The main opposition party; Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to resign for alluding that he was surprised at the deteriorating security situation in the country. The PDP described the statement as defeatist and showing that President Buhari was overwhelmed and lacked the required capacity to articulate and implement necessary solutions to the escalated insurgency under his administration. The party said it backed the call by the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, who had asked the President to resign on the floor of the upper legislative house.
To curb this recurring menace, there is an urgent need to equip our law enforcement agents better with required funds and manpower. At the moment, they are grossly inadequate to cater for the growing security demands of the country. Sponsors of the killings should be fished out at all cost and be punished. The government should deploy the political will to make this happen. Community policing should be encouraged and not discouraged in the country, to allow policing to get to the grassroots. The continued stay of all service chiefs in the office should be reconsidered.
Groups fanning the embers of violence and engaging in hate speech should be controlled. These include the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association. From all indications, they appear untouchable. This should not be allowed any further. A critical issue that keeps resonating is the call for restructuring because the real problems facing us as a nation have not been sincerely addressed such as devolution of power, national security, resource control, and constitutionalism, among others. We need to face this reality now!
