By Tunde Johnson
The leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has declared July 9-11, 2018 as national days of prayers and fasting against unwarranted killings in the country.
A statement signed by Adebayo Oladeji, Special Assistant, Media and Communications to the CAN President, made available to Elendu Reports on Thursday, also called on all well-meaning Nigerians, both within and outside the country, to join Christians on 11 July, 2018 for a peaceful protests against the killings.
Oladeji said the decision was hinged on willful and persistent killings of Nigerians in general and Christians in particular nationwide and mostly in Plateau and Benue states where mass burial has become the norm without any positive response from the country’s security agencies.
The statement reads in part: “CAN is worried, disturbed and disappointed that despite all the clarion calls on President Muhammadu Buhari to re-organise his security team by replacing all the security chiefs, he has consistently turned a deaf ear to such calls.
“From all indications, the President seems to be satisfied with their poor performance and the attendant problems that have led to avoidable loss of lives and property.
“We call on all Christians in the country and in the Diaspora to participate in the three-day prayers and fasting programme for God to end all the senseless, unwarranted, and selected killings in the country. If the government has failed us, we are very sure that Our God will never fail.”
He called on all National Executive Committee’s members of CAN, the Church and denominational leaders to participate in the peaceful protest to both the National Assembly and the State House to impress on the government to see the need to effectively stop the unprecedented killings.
Oladeji said the association has also directed its leadership at the state and local government levels to organise the same peaceful protest march to the Government House and the local government headquarters respectively on 11 July.
“We are to tell the government; ‘Enough is Enough. We appeal to our members to be law-abiding before, during and after the protest.
“Meanwhile, we express our disappointment to the ungodly and unlawful counsel of the Presidency for people living under the threat of the Fulani herdsmen to give away their land or face death.
“This position is reprehensible, satanic, wicked and it shows how serious the government is to the protection of lives and property of the citizens.
“The only time such a directive was given was during the tyrannical leadership of Biblical Ahab when he killed Naboth who refused to let go of his inherited land to the greedy, wicked and the ungodly king,” he said.
He said although they succeeded in killing Naboth, but the wrath of God did not spare his family despite his remorsefulness.
The CAN spokesman, however, called on all well-meaning Nigeria to rise up and speak against such a position on ranching.
He averred that those who use violence to take away what belongs to others are unfit to be called humans.
“It is worrisome that we have a government that has come out clearly to state that people under the threat of herdsmen’s killings must surrender their lands for ranching or continue to be killed,” he added.
