From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has raised concerns that Nigeria is fast becoming a lawless country where criminals and other non state actors operate unchecked.
CAN said that criminals are now emboldened and operate with impunity across the country while security agents that are expected to stop or apprehend them appear powerless.
CAN President, Dr. Samson Ayokunle Olasupo, in a statement, on Wednesday, referred to the murder of Lady Fatima and her four innocent children by some “unknown gunmen” in Anambra State few days ago.
He condemned the criminal act and demanded for justice, even as it called on security agencies to fish out those responsible for the wicked act in order to serve as deterrent to others, and stop the senseless killings in the country.
He said the criminality was to unacceptable, unjustifiable and reprehensible to CAN and all right thinking people, and called on the security operatives to wake up to their responsibilities.
“It is disheartening and unfortunate that nowhere is safe again in the country as killers, bandits, terrorists and kidnappers are on rampage in every nook and cranny of the country, and all the government was able to do was to issue periodic statements condemning them without any decisive action to bring culprits to book,” he said.
CAN called on the leadership of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to stop the ongoing criminalities in the pretext of fighting for independence. “Are they fighting for a country for the dead or the living? They should know that their criminalities are not helping the case of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, and not turn the Southeast to a ‘No Man’s Land’ in the interest of the founding Fathers of this country who hailed from the zone.
“This cannot be the dream country of those who fought for the independence of Nigeria from the colonial masters.”
CAN President, thus maintained that the actions of IPOB are not only giving the Ndigbo bad name but they are creating an atmosphere for ethno-religious wars.
He called on the political elites, religious and traditional rulers of Ndigbo extraction to prevail on the violent groups in the south east to stop the needless bloodshed and tension they are causing for economic prosperity and wellbeing of the region.
He commiserated with all the bereaved of the killings especially the immediate family of lady Fatima and the recently murdered Honourable member of Anambra State House to Assembly, Okechukwu Okoye.
