- Calls on Christians to resist Fulani attacks
Senator Iroegbu in Abuja
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has condemned the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, for his complete lack of empathy and understanding of the realities of killing of Southern Kaduna people who are mostly Christians by Fulani herdsmen.
The National President of CAN Youth Wing, Mr. Daniel Kadzai, in a statement yesterday, described as unfortunate, el-Rufai’s condemnation of the CAN president’s statement over the killing of Christians in the state.
Kadzai said the governors actions have “further exposes the Governor’s lack of coming to terms with realities for political reasons.”
He vowed that Christian youths would “no longer tolerate the disrespect to the office and person of the CAN President, especially the statements attributed to Kaduna Governor and other Nigerians.”
He promised that the youths stand firm and support the position of the CAN President, after the National Executive Committee meeting with Southern Kaduna Christian community leaders in Abuja on Save our Soul (SOS) visit over what they said is “targeted cleansing of Christians.”
Part of the statement read: “The Kaduna Governor Malam Nasir El-Rufai instead of seeking the collaboration of CAN through strategic prayers and consultations to end the senseless killings,had debunked the statement of the CAN President and attributed the killings of Christians in southern Kaduna communities to bandit , claiming, ‘The same Fulanis are killing Fulanis in Zamfara State.
“We, the Christian youths totally disagree with the claims of the Kaduna governor that the attackers who organised themselves and came back for revenge….in southern Kaduna and plateau state are from outside Nigeria. It is untrue and whether the fulani terrorist are from Nigeria or not,we the Christian Youths agree that there is deliberate and calculated cleansing of Christians in Nigeria. Thus, we call on all Christians to resist.
“The initiative to compensate the Fulanis for their lost castles as well as placating them and sponsoring delegates to meet Fulani leaders outside Nigeria amounts to playing to the gallery and smacks of sentiments without recourse to the Christians killed or the plight of their mourning families.
“It is the highest point of insensitivity to use state fund to pay and placate the aggressors/terrorists at the expense of the victims. In view of El-Rufai’s confession that the Fulani terrorists killing Christians are foreigners, we call on the Federal government to close the Northern Nigerian border between Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Benin Republic without delay. The state House of Assembly must impeach el-Rufai immediately for conniving with terrorists to kill Nigerians.”
Kadzai also said the rate of abduction and robbery in the state are on the increase, which he noted. confirms the weak or compromised internal security apparatus.
He stressed that the country’s borders are not only porous and poorly manned, are frequently infiltrated by terrorists and their collaborators to torment Nigerians.
The CAN Youth leader said its evident that alliance of the external forces with their Nigerian counterparts to kill fellow Nigerians over the years, has “been deliberately allowed into Nigeria to buffers up the population of one religion over the other for obvious reasons”
“In conclusion, we call on the Governor el-Rufai to respect the CAN President and know that Christians have the right to self-defence, especially where there is complacency or complicity on the part of security operatives or politicians,” he warned.
