Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
The National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Mr Samson Ayokunle, has called on the Federal government to urgently address the glaring security challenges in the country to avoid a possible civil rebellion.
Ayokunle said this in Jalingo on Thursday during a visit to the state to provide relief materials to victims of herdsmen attacks in the state.
The CAN boss said that the continuous attack on helpless farmers which often leads to regrettable loss of lives and property and displacement from their homes is totally unacceptable and the seeming indifference on the part of the government to bring the perpetrators to book is a a clear call to civil rebellion.
He urged the government to not only provide security for the people but to also arrest those responsible for the criminal acts and investigate their sources of arms and ammunition.
“The time has come for us to begin to pay a higher premium on human lives. We cannot continue to have people killed and displaced from their ancestral homes for no fault of theirs, while the government seems to turn a blind eye to all of these. This is an invitation to the civil rebellion that would be too much for the government to handle. You must understand that no one has the monopoly of violence.
“These herdsmen attack with sophisticated weapons and operate with impunity. The government should provide adequate security for the people and make sure that the perpetrators are arrested and the sources of their arms and ammunitions thoroughly investigated.
“If this is not done and the people resort to self-help, I don’t see how the government would be able to contain it. If the government cannot handle the situation, then the respective states should be allowed to set up their own security systems to battle the situation.”
Earlier, the leader of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in camps in Jalingo, Mr Dauda Marafa, informed the national President of CAN that he lost over a hundred IDPs in January alone due to lack of food and other basic necessities of life.
He said that the “people would have preferred to return home to their normal life but the insurgents are been shielded and so any attempt by the people to return home often leads to more deaths.”
Our correspondent reports that the CAN leadership donated relief materials to the IDPs to ameliorate their plight and urged the people to continue to support them in their time of difficulty while assuring them that their “period of affliction was over and the power of resurrection would break the chain of the oppressor.”