Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
The Senior Pastor of Awaiting the Second Coming of Jesus Christ Ministry, Akure, Pastor Adewale Giwa, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to yield to calls by protesters for an end to police brutality in the country
Giwa, speaking at a press conference in Akure, the Ondo State capital, said there was the urgent need for the President to address the country on the state of Nigeria’s security.
He noted that replacing the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squads (SARS) with the Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT) would not meet with the yearnings of Nigerians.
‘If you are bringing SWAT, are you bringing foreigners to become members of SWAT? Is it not the same police? The same people in the same uniform, that is nonsense,’ the pastor said.
‘I call on President Muhammadu Buhari to listen to the cries of Nigerians. They don’t want SARS, they don’t want SWAT, they should just reform police totally,’ he added.
According to him, ‘many people who are police joined the Police Force out of frustration. That is why they are killing innocent Nigerians.’
The cleric suggested that bad leadership in the country has led to a bad Police Force.
‘When the head is not good, the whole body is not good. So, we don’t have good leadership in Nigeria. This thing has to do with leadership. When we have good leadership in Nigeria, police will not be killing innocent Nigerians the way they want. It is an act of irresponsibility,’ Giwa noted.
The cleric, who made reference to the Biblical Abimelech, the ancient King of Israel who killed his relatives because he wanted to be a king, stated that those leaders bent on killing innocent Nigerians are doomed.
‘Disintegration is the way out of Nigeria’s problems. In Genesis Chapter 13, Abraham and Lot parted ways. Parting ways does not mean I cannot travel to the East. It doesn’t mean that the Igbo cannot come to the West.
‘The foundation of Nigeria’s problems can be traced to Flora Shaw, who named the country Nigeria and Lord Lugard, who joined the Southern Protectorate and Northern Protectorate together in 1914,’ he argued.
The cleric urged Nigerians to always call out bad governance wherever it occurs.