THE Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has condemned the recent abduction of more than 333 students of Government Secondary School, Kankara in Katsina State.
The body decried that criminals now operate in Nigeria in a manner that seems as if the nation’s “security agencies are on holiday.”
This was noted in a statement released by Adebayo Oladeji, the special assistant on media and communications to Samson Ayokunle, CAN president.
The statement noted that the audacity by which the incident was carried out on the very day President Muhammadu Buhari arrived in the state should inform the president that security under him has been compromised.
CAN added that the abduction also proved that governments at various levels in the country have not learnt any lesson from the abduction of school children in Chibok, Borno and Dapachi, Yola states respectively.
“The fact that the unfortunate incident happened while the Chief Security Officer of the country and the President, Muhammadu Buhari, is in his home state means these criminals have sent a strong message to him that the security architecture of the country has been compromised under his watch,” CAN said.
“The abduction has also exposed the failure of both the government and the security agencies to learn from the abduction of 276 Chibok schoolgirls in 2014 in Borno State and 110 schoolgirls at the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College in Dapchi, in Yobe State in 2018.
“It also means all stakeholders in the Education sector have learnt nothing from the two historic tragedies despite the fact that our security agencies have failed to secure the release of the remaining Chibok schoolgirls and the only Dapchi schoolgirl, Leah Sharibu, who is still wasting in the den of the terrorists.”
While condemning the failure of the president to appear to honour a recent summon by the House of Representatives for him to explain the degenerating nature of insecurity in the country, CAN called on security operatives to urgently rescue the children before they are used for suicide bombers.
“From all indications, our governments are not bothered about the security of the people despite all the killings that are being recorded daily. The President turned down the invitation of the House of Representatives to explain and rob minds with the legislators on the way out of our deplorable security situation in the country.
“This was what CAN foresaw long before now when we were calling on the President to sack the service chiefs and by extension to overhaul the security architecture. But he was not ready to listen to the Voice of Wisdom.
“We advise President Buhari to revisit all his electioneering promises on security and compare them with what security has become under his watch. We urge the President to disregard the bad advice from the cheerleaders around him who are saying that all is well so that they might keep their jobs.
“Is there no government in place anymore? Is this the way other governments of the world respond to life-consuming threats as we have?
“The leadership of CAN calls on all relevant security agencies to rise up and liberate all these innocent students before those who are holding them captive begin using them as suicide bombers.”
It called on the international community to come to the aid of Nigeria and help put to a permanent end the siege of terrorists, bandits and criminal herdsmen masquerading and causing mayhem in our country noting that “They shouldn’t wait till when the situation snowballs into a civil war.
The religious body called for the closure of boarding facilities in all private and government schools in the Northern part of the country. It also advised the federal government to direct the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps to provide protection for schools and colleges nationwide especially in the areas where security appears compromised.
“Our hearts go out to the parents of those innocent students and we pray that very soon, they will reunite with their children in Jesus’ name. It is regrettable, disturbing, disheartening and unfortunate that despite the menace of insecurity and its attendant consequences, there’s no one who has the conscience to follow the path of honour.
“CAN calls for the suspension of the boarding facilities in all the private and government schools in the Northern part of the country until the security situation improves. We equally advise the Federal government to direct the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps to provide protection for schools and colleges nationwide especially in the areas where security appears compromised.
“May the Lord divinely intervene in the affairs of our nation which appears to be irredeemable by man.”
On Monday, Boko-Haram had claimed responsibility for the abduction.
