From Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
The Bishop of the Egba Diocese, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) Rt. Revd. Emmanuel Adekunle, has described the All Progressive Congress (APC) led administration in the country as clueless, which has further thrown the nation into abyss of insecurity and economic woes.
The cleric noted that the party since it came into power in 2015, had watched helplessly as the country drifted from Boko Haram insurgency to banditry, high profile armed robbery, arsons, kidnapping, due to mismanagement and insensitivity of the leaders.
Adekunle stated this on Friday in his charge at the Third Session of the 15th Synod of the Church of Nigeria, (Anglican Communion) Diocese of Egba. The theme of the Synod is “God Our Foundation And Salvation”.
He further lamented the spate of killings, kidnappings and the worsening security architecture of the country, berating President Muhammadu Buhari for surrounding himself with “people who are hiding the true state of the nation from him”.
The cleric described those around the president as “noisy propagandists”, who transfer the blames of the misdemeanors to the former president or the opposition party.
“Since the entrance of this regime in 2015, things have not been stable in the political arena. Initially, the government started by apportioning blames on the preceding regime and for six years now they could not right the wrongs.
“The system has been deteriorating. The economy is daily somersaulting, the effect of inflation is biting hard, public amenities and facilities are depreciating, the currency is so devalued that its purchasing power is quickly plummeting to zero.
“The country is in internecine war, feuds time between the composing tribes: farmlands are being razed and destroyed; people are being molested, raped, sacked from their ancestral lands and thrown into refugee camps within their country.
“The people involved are doing this with impunity, they move about brandishing sophisticated weapons to suppress and oppress the innocent concerned citizens. These have culminated to a point that some people belonging to a particular tribe are claiming superiority over other tribes as if they are at their mercy.
“The mismanagement of the situation confronting the nation from different sectors has added up to different crises and unrest that are erupting all around as the #ENDSARS protest, eviction of the Fulanis in some regions, regional agitation for independence, demands for dissolve of power to regional governments, soliciting for true and total federalism.” The cleric stated.
Adekunle, however, urged the governments at all levels and their officials to collectively stand against insurgency and insecurity, and not provide covers for the perpetrators.
He also recommended community policing, neighbourhood policing and vigilante surveillance as agents of security to ensure national safety, while massive investment in agriculture should also be undertaken and encouraged by the governments to address food and unemployment crisis in the country.
“Let the security agents and the military arms be well-funded, trained and equipped with 21st century state of the art security gadgets”, the cleric submitted.
In his remark, the Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun commended the Anglican Mission for its contribution towards the development of education and humanity, describing the church as the purveyor, transmitter and bringer of western education into the country.
Abiodun who also noted that the Synod is a viable platform to deliberate on various issues such as the development and growth of the Christian faith, added that the gathering is also an avenue where good Christian ethics are nurtured.
While commending the people of Egbaland for their support to his administration, the governor noted that the support of the people of the Egbaland had been vital towards the string of successes his administration had recorded in the socio-economic re-engineering of the state.