The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has lamented over the inaction of the government to arrest bandits and herdsmen who have continued to persecute Christians in Nigeria.
The Christian group accused the federal government of treating christian persecution with laxity, which explains the reason why no arrest was yet to be made. And if the claim was false, the group dared the government to publish names of detained culprits.
The Herald earlier reported that presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu denied that Christians were under persecution, saying President Buhari will never condone such act in his administration.
However, CAN in a statement issued by Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, spokesman to CAN President, Rev Dr Samson Ayokunle, said it’s high time the government woke up to its duty which is to protect lives of the citizens.
“These criminals are targeting the predominant Christian communities, killing, maiming and abducting the people with or without any resistance from the security agencies is unprecedented.
“Let the government wake up to its responsibilities and see if we will not stop talking about its failure to protect our members. That is not politicisation of religion. The governor of Borno State is shouting that the soldiers are extorting money from the people instead of defending them.
“If the government has not been treating those criminals with kid gloves, let them publish names of their kingpins, of the terrorists, herdsmen killers and bandits in their custody and those who are being prosecution in the court of law for the world to see.
“How many Christians are heading any of the security agencies in the country? We are praying for the government on daily basis but that does not mean where the government is failing we should keep quiet. Since Leah Sharibu and other Chibok girls have been crying for help, there is nothing on ground to show that the government has been sensitive to their plight.
“The only reason why they are in captivity is because they are Christians, no more, no less. That the government is condemning the terror attacks is not the same thing as stopping the attacks and arresting the criminals responsible or are they telling us they are spirits? Telling us to keep quiet is adding salt to our injuries.
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Last week, it was Adamawa and on Monday, this week it was Kaduna State where 41 people were kidnapped! As long as the unpleasant situations in the country remain the same the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria will not keep quiet since that is the only thing we can do aside from praying for the captives.”