The President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Dr Samson Olasupo Ayokunl,e has berated the security agencies in the country for allowing herdsmen killings to continue unabated in the country.
In an interview with The Punch published on Sunday, the senior cleric said the herdsmen and Boko Haram insurgents appear better trained than Nigerian soldiers to have remain uncaptured and undefeated for so long.
Furthermore, Ayokunle queried why the security agencies in the country could claim not to know the assailants shedding innocent blood in the country when it is their responsibility to have such information.
Commenting on the recent call by former Minister of Defence, Lt.-Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd) that Nigerians should defend themselves, Ayokunle said, “CAN was the first organisation that asked people to defend themselves during the time of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor because it then appeared that there was complicity on the side of government and security agencies.
“Our concern now is that it appears as if the insurgents, herdsmen and so on appear to be better trained than our own security agencies. Why should the killers continue to beat the intelligence of our security agencies? How are they succeeding in attacking soft targets all over Nigeria and the security agencies cannot outsmart them? Why has it been impossible for them to arrest them?
“They claim they are unknown gunmen. Who is supposed to know them? The security agencies have everything to fight the insurgents and arrest them. Why have they been failing? The bloodshed continues with impunity and it appears as if the security agencies in Nigeria are clueless. That was why Oritsejafor said if government could not defend the people, the people should defend themselves. It is unacceptable for people to die without fulfiling their purposes in life.”