…Asks National Assembly to stop Hijab Bill, threaten to shut schools
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has called for thorough investigation, arrest and prosecution of everyone involved in the assassination attempt on Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom.
This came as the religious body also called on the National Assembly to suspend a bill before the House of Representatives, seeking to institutionalise the use of hijab in the country, or risk having all Christian schools and colleges shut down, and those under government funding or partnership retrieved back to the church.
CAN in a statement signed by its General Secretary, Joseph Daramola, expressed disappointment and worry over the evident collapse of the nation’s security architecture and the failure of those in charge to rise up to the security challenges.
CAN challenged the Federal Government to be proactive in the fight against insurgency and amongst other measures to secure the lives of the citizenry, publish the names of the kingpins of every criminal or terrorist group currently on trial or detention.
The statement reads in part: “If a state governor is unsafe despite all the security operatives in his convoy, then who is safe?
“We welcome the Presidential directive and that of the Inspector General of Police that the investigation of the matter should be thorough and it is our hope that the matter will not be swept under the carpet.
“We are disappointed that the shadowy group, the Fulani Nationality Movement that claimed responsibility has not been outlawed and the herdsmen leaders who publicly threatened the Governor are still going about their businesses as if they have done nothing unusual. Is the government waiting till they have successfully carried out their evil and wicked enterprise? What are these people turning the country into in this century?
“If these murderous Fulani herdsmen are not Nigerians, as we are being told, why do our security agencies appear powerless before these criminals? Are they holding superior ammunitions? Are they waiting till everyone results to self-defence with the attendant consequences?
“The primary responsibility of any government is to protect the lives and property of the citizens. If President Muhammadu Buhari wants his name to be written in gold, let him fix the security problems in this nation before his tenure is over.
“We challenge the Federal Government to roll out the list of names of the kingpins of those murderous herdsmen, kidnappers, bandits and terrorists in the prison and Police custody and those under trials. As long as the government continues treating these criminals with kid gloves so also will they continue operating with impunity!”
On the legislation of Hijab in the country, CAN while noting that the Bill was ill timed and uncalled for, wondered the true intentions of the sponsors of the Bill if not to further “compound the security problem and the wearing of hijab in public and Christian schools.”
Credit: New Telegraph