From Pwanagba Agabus, Jos
As a result of the myriad of security challenges bedeviling many communities across the country, the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), on Thursday, reechoed the call by the Senate for the nation’s Service Chiefs to resign or be sacked by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Church also called for the restructuring of the security leadership of the country by ensuring inclusiveness, whereby reflecting the various diversities of the country.
It equally expressed worry about the continuous killing of Christians and destruction of their communities, particularly in Southern Kaduna, where it said in the past two weeks, 43 persons were killed and communities destroyed by suspected Fulani militia despite a 24-hour curfew being imposed in the affected communities.
This was disclosed by ECWA President, Rev. Stephen Baba Panya, in Jos, the Plateau State Capital.
He said: “We have said it several times that in face of the dismal security situation, the time was long overdue for the Service Chiefs to go.
“We once more emphatically lend our voice in full support of the resolution adopted by the Senate during plenary calling on the Service Chiefs to resign or be sacked by the President due to the multi-pronged security challenges in the country.”
According to him: “The security leadership architecture of this country needs to be urgently restructured for it to be more inclusive and to reflect the various diversities of our nation, in order to be more effective in accomplishing its mandate of protection of lives and properties of citizens and defending our nation from internal insurgencies and external aggression.
“ECWA is particularly worried that these continued massacres and destructions in our Christian communities have become too much to bear considering the fact that the states and especially the federal government have neither said anything of worth about the killings nor have shown concern on the plight of the communities whenever they are attacked.
“There are no sympathy visits to the remnant victims in the communities,” he lamented.
The ECWA President further decried that: “There are no steps taken to alleviate their sufferings by providing relief materials to them since they have been made Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in their thousands.”
It would be recalled that in the early hours of July 10, 2020, nine persons were killed by suspected armed Fulani militia in Chibob village of Zangon Kataf LGA of Kaduna State, during a government imposed curfew and despite the presence of security operatives in the area.
Also, on the July 11, 2020, twelve persons were killed by the same suspects Kigudu Community, which shares boundary with Chibob, also in Zangon Kataf LGA, also during a government imposed curfew.
On the July 12, 2020, Surubu village under Gora ward was also attacked, where the entire village was looted and burnt down, one person was killed.
It would equally be recalled that 20 people were killed by the suspected assailants on the July 19, 2020 at Kukun Daji, during a midnight raid.
Panya, however, maintained that, with the aforementioned attacks and impending ones on Christian communities and hundreds more across Nigeria, as the assailants are still sending strong warnings and threats, “many of these threatened communities have consequently relocated to surrounding communities, thereby creating a very serious humanitarian situation where they need relief materials like foodstuffs, medical facilities, mattresses and blankets, clothing and other necessities”.
“ECWA is therefore calling on the Kaduna Sate government in particular, and the Federal government, to show more commitment and sincerity in securing the Christian communities in the southern part of Kaduna state”, he stressed.
The ECWA President appealed to states, federal government and humanitarian organizations to as a matter of urgency to reach out to the affected communities across the local governments that are currently displaced, urging them to do everything humanly possible to stop the killings and protect the people from further attacks.
“It is summarily unfair to place a curfew on indigenous communities while letting their enemies go after and cut them down defenselessly.
“In light of the glaring failure of the State and Federal Governments to protect the people, communities should be allowed under the supervision of security outfits, to reasonably arm
themselves for self defence, since the security outfits have admitted that they are overwhelmed and unable to provide adequate security as they would want to.”
