CAN seeks end to SWAT formation
• ‘No against military intervention’
The leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has urged the suspension of establishment of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team until sanity is restored to the Police.
It lauded the youths, condemning in strong terms every attempt being made to stop or disrupt their peaceful protest.
CAN suggested that to put an end to the nationwide protests, President Muhammadu Buhari should without delay send an Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly for the compensation of all victims of the Police brutality and other extra-judicial killings in the last 10 years.
It advised that the officers, rank and file, who were members of SARS should be screened administratively to unmask the rotten eggs among them with a view to sanctioning them.
For fresh recruitment into police, CAN said background check of those being recruited should be done to avoid recruiting criminals into the force.
The religious body advised government to drop plans of involving the military to intervene in the ongoing #EndSARS protest.
It called for immediate resolution of Federal Government- Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) saga to end the ongoing strike.
CAN seeks end to SWAT formation
• ’No against military intervention’
October 20, 2020FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedInWhatsAppEmailhttps://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-5089981496810613&output=html&h=300&slotname=5364422452&adk=703647647&adf=2235838901&pi=t.ma~as.5364422452&w=360&lmt=1603174278&rafmt=1&psa=1&guci=2.2.0.0.2.2.0.0&format=360×300&url=https%3A%2F%2Fthenationonlineng.net%2Fcan-seeks-end-to-swat-formation%2F&flash=0&fwr=1&fwrattr=true&rpe=1&resp_fmts=3&sfro=1&wgl=1&tt_state=W3siaXNzdWVyT3JpZ2luIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9hZHNlcnZpY2UuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbSIsInN0YXRlIjowfV0.&dt=1603174305329&bpp=65&bdt=874&idt=2921&shv=r20201015&cbv=r20190131&ptt=9&saldr=aa&abxe=1&cookie=ID%3D0e3915a11e8b155f%3AT%3D1585043884%3AS%3DALNI_MYX7S2pnihY57hTYwH1RIUYMlORkA&correlator=5922890080047&frm=20&pv=2&ga_vid=1562020309.1585043884&ga_sid=1603174308&ga_hid=1445233860&ga_fc=0&iag=0&icsg=3388875941347324&dssz=66&mdo=0&mso=0&u_tz=60&u_his=1&u_java=0&u_h=774&u_w=360&u_ah=774&u_aw=360&u_cd=24&u_nplug=0&u_nmime=0&adx=0&ady=535&biw=360&bih=638&scr_x=0&scr_y=0&eid=21067654%2C21066819%2C21066973&oid=3&pvsid=2606538378085916&pem=541&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.latestnigeriannews.com%2F&rx=0&eae=0&fc=900&brdim=0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C360%2C0%2C360%2C638%2C360%2C638&vis=1&rsz=%7C%7CeE%7C&abl=CS&pfx=0&fu=8320&bc=31&ifi=1&uci=a!1&fsb=1&xpc=YV3JFcB9yP&p=https%3A//thenationonlineng.net&dtd=3053https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-5089981496810613&output=html&h=300&slotname=5364422452&adk=703647647&adf=2980752351&pi=t.ma~as.5364422452&w=360&lmt=1603174278&rafmt=1&psa=1&guci=2.2.0.0.2.2.0.0&format=360×300&url=https%3A%2F%2Fthenationonlineng.net%2Fcan-seeks-end-to-swat-formation%2F&flash=0&fwr=1&fwrattr=true&rpe=1&resp_fmts=3&sfro=1&wgl=1&tt_state=W3siaXNzdWVyT3JpZ2luIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9hZHNlcnZpY2UuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbSIsInN0YXRlIjowfV0.&dt=1603174305396&bpp=32&bdt=941&idt=3271&shv=r20201015&cbv=r20190131&ptt=9&saldr=aa&abxe=1&cookie=ID%3D0e3915a11e8b155f-22546b9b4da600ef%3AT%3D1603174306%3ART%3D1603174306%3AS%3DALNI_MYU6H5bahaaujXsvRvNUshV8dEtCw&prev_fmts=360×300&correlator=5922890080047&frm=20&pv=1&ga_vid=1562020309.1585043884&ga_sid=1603174308&ga_hid=1445233860&ga_fc=0&iag=0&icsg=176102964985852&dssz=69&mdo=0&mso=0&u_tz=60&u_his=1&u_java=0&u_h=774&u_w=360&u_ah=774&u_aw=360&u_cd=24&u_nplug=0&u_nmime=0&adx=0&ady=855&biw=360&bih=638&scr_x=0&scr_y=0&eid=21067654%2C21066819%2C21066973&oid=3&pvsid=2606538378085916&pem=541&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.latestnigeriannews.com%2F&rx=0&eae=0&fc=900&brdim=0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C360%2C0%2C360%2C638%2C360%2C638&vis=1&rsz=%7C%7CeEbr%7C&abl=CS&pfx=0&fu=8320&bc=31&ifi=2&uci=a!2&btvi=1&fsb=1&xpc=ENAl5mfd9D&p=https%3A//thenationonlineng.net&dtd=3309
By Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja
The leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has urged the suspension of establishment of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team until sanity is restored to the Police.
It lauded the youths, condemning in strong terms every attempt being made to stop or disrupt their peaceful protest.
CAN suggested that to put an end to the nationwide protests, President Muhammadu Buhari should without delay send an Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly for the compensation of all victims of the Police brutality and other extra-judicial killings in the last 10 years.
It advised that the officers, rank and file, who were members of SARS should be screened administratively to unmask the rotten eggs among them with a view to sanctioning them.
For fresh recruitment into police, CAN said background check of those being recruited should be done to avoid recruiting criminals into the force.
The religious body advised government to drop plans of involving the military to intervene in the ongoing #EndSARS protest.
It called for immediate resolution of Federal Government- Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) saga to end the ongoing strike.
Read Also: How to end anti-SARS demonstration, by Afenifere leader Fasoranti
A statement issued in Abuja by CAN President, Rev. Samson Ayokunle said: “We are not unaware of your sacrifices; time, money and other risks in your quest for a reformed police and an egalitarian society. CAN acknowledge and appreciates your patriotic agitation in a peaceful manner despite the pockets of attack against you either by the Police or some hired thugs to disrupt the exercise.
“We condemn in strong terms every attempt being made to stop or disrupt the peaceful protest which is lawfully allowed and guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution (as amended). We are monitoring the #EndSARS protests nationwide and we are praying that their unprecedented efforts to have a decent society will not be in vain.
“We call on the Military and police to resist the temptation to intervene in a civil protest in order to avoid a harvest of deaths. We have had enough of mass burials without fighting a war in the recent past.
“CAN is calling on the Federal and state governments to walk their talk with a view to restoring the lost trust to the governed by doing the following: Immediate inauguration of Judicial or Quasi-Judicial panel with representatives of the civil society at all levels with a view to bringing all the criminals in uniform to book.
“Similarly, semi-literates should never be recruited into the police again. Well educated, morally and mentally sound people are good enough to wear police uniform in Nigeria.”
He added: “All the three tiers of the government should stop paying lip service to the welfare of the people and immediately begin the welfare programme that will bring succour to the suffering masses occasioned by the increase in the fuel pump price and the power tariff.
“Each of the 36 state governors, including the FCT Minister, should set up a committee to dialogue with the representatives of the protesters to douse the tension in the country.
“The mass unemployment of our teeming youths who graduated from higher institutions and continued closure of our universities as a result of unresolved university lecturers’ welfare and infrastructural demands have fuelled this current #EndSars protest.”
Ayokunle urged government to wake up now and provide a future for the youths through provision of gainful employment or enabling environment for their employment.
CAN called on churches in the country to be praying for the deliverance of Nigeria from all self-inflicted problems, adding that: “God will surely deliver us from all these hardships as our leaders resolve to make us proud of them by being more accountable to the citizens of this nation in Jesus’ name.”
Credit: The Nation