CAN Demands Probe of Security Lapses in Kaduna Students’ Abduction

Onyebuchi Ezigbo

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has charged President Muhammadu Buhari to summon security chiefs in the country to explain why criminals are operating with ease in Nigeria without being brought to justice.

In a statement issued yesterday by CAN President, Rev. Samson Olasupo Ayokunle, the Christian body said Nigeria is no longer a safe haven for anyone.

He said the country is gradually becoming a den of kidnappers and other criminals who are operating almost unhindered.

Against the background of the kidnap of the 180 pupils of Bethel Baptist College in Kaduna by the Boko Haram terrorists or bandits last Monday, the CAN president said: “President Buhari should summon all the security chiefs in the country and cause them to explain why the criminals are operating with ease in Nigeria without being brought to book.”

With regards to the recent kidnap of some students, Ayokunle expressed CAN condemnation of the abduction of the school children and other kidnappings in the country.

According to him, “We hereby call on international communities to come to the aid of Nigeria as they did in Syria because it appears that our leaders are incapacitated and are not humble enough to admit failure. They are unwilling to seek help.

“Furthermore, the situation in Kaduna State has become quite terrible because of the uncouth, unbridled and acidic statements credited to the state Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, who appears to be talking too much than acting. Nigeria, a land once flowing with milk and honey, has become a wasteland and a land devouring its inhabitants in the hands of this present leadership.”

The Christian body further warned that the case of the 140 innocent pupils of Bethel Baptist College, Kaduna, “must not be like the story of the Chibok girls, who are still missing till date despite plummeted boast and blank promises by the present administration in 2015 to recover them if it won the election.”

CAN lamented the growing insecurity in the country, adding that the present administration is paying lip service to the issues of security in the country.

“One of the campaign promises of President Buhari during the 2015/2019 general election was the provision of adequate security for all Nigerian citizens, and a major reason the people voted for him was because he is an ex-military man, but the administration has failed woefully to keep its campaign promise.

“The former administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was severely criticised by our present leaders for the ‘inability’ to curb the activities of Boko Haram, but today we are not only being harassed by Boko Haram and Islamic State of West African Province (who recently appointed their own governor for Borno State), we are terribly traumatised by bandits, kidnappers and other criminals,” it stated.