By Yemi Adedeji, Abuja
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Adamawa State Chapter has accused some security agencies of complicity in the ongoing crisis between the farmers and the herdsmen that has led to the loss of lives in the state.
It said it was disheartening that security agencies have the fore knowledge of the impending attacks but failed to act to prevent it.
Stephen Mamza, the CAN Chairman in the state in a statement said that the organisations remains in deep mourning as it remembers those killed in the areas of Numen and Demsa as a result of clashes between farmers and herdsmen.
CAN however said it appreciates the sacrifices being made by some of the security personnel as they protect the lives and properties of innocent citizens, more especially the seven mobile policemen who were gruesomely murdered last week in the Numan area.
Mamza stated: “However, we also observe the complicity and inaction by some Security Agencies in respect of the on-going crisis. It is such a sad and disturbing thing to live in a nation where the security agencies have heard reports of impending attacks by armed men around the bushes of villages surrounding Numan but failed to act.”
CAN stated categorically that people in the affected communities are seriously losing confidence in government at all levels as they fail to protect the lives and property of her citizens forgetting the sacred oath they took.
CAN added; “The attacks against Numan and its environs have been foretold by people who do not want us to live together in peace. The phenomenon of coordinated attacks of communities by armed men in and around the Numan areas have assumed dangerous proportions without state actors taking any decisive legal measures to arrest and prosecute offenders. The silence of some of our highly placed Religious,
“Traditional and Political leaders on the Numan crisis can be interpreted as an approval of the killings. Local communities had precisely and concisely sighted well-armed killers in different locations over the past days and had reported same to the security agencies but no one listened to them.
“We call on the Federal Government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari as a matter of urgency to act promptly and to deal with offenders as a matter of justice and an assurance that his government “belongs to everybody and to nobody” and to disabuse the minds of the public that some persons or tribes are ‘sacred cows’.
“We are disheartened by the claim of some security agents in the State that they “had boost security in the areas”. Those who escaped the crisis in the Numan areas complained bitterly about the lack of security presence most especially in the attacked communities and areas where the armed killers were moving towards.
“ We call on the security agencies to be truthful in their operations and to perform their primary duty of securing lives and property in and around Numan and Demsa areas in order to restore public confidence in their work.
“ We call on all Christians in Adamawa State to begin a three days fasting and prayers from Friday 8th December to the evening of Sunday 10th December 2017 for security and peace especially in Numan and Demsa Local Governments and Adamawa State
as a whole.
“We call on all Christians in Adamawa State to be law abiding citizens and remain very vigilant of suspicious persons bent on destroying our peace,” CAN said.
