New Telegraph

Bandits fighting wrong enemy –Kaduna CAN Chair

Reverend John Joseph Hayab is the Chairman of the of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Kaduna State chapter. Speaking against the backdrop of the threat by bandits to kill the abducted students of the Greenfield University, Kaduna allegedly to show that government has failed, Hayab told BABA NEGEDU in Kaduna that the bandits were fighting the wrong enemy

 

 

What do you think is the best way forward from this stand of the Kaduna State Governor on kidnapping and the threat of the kidnappers?

 

The simple reason we are where we are today is simply because government has not done what is expected of it. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria empowers the governor of the state to protect lives and properties. We have no business discussing about negotiating with bandits if the government had lived up to its responsibilities.

 

So, in the first instance, government has failed in their responsibilities and that is why we are even talking about negotiation.

 

Also, it is even uncalled for, for our governor to begin to think that we want him to negotiate with bandits.

 

We are not telling the governor to negotiate with bandits. What we are telling the governor to do is to do exactly what the constitution empowers him to do and that is to protect the lives and property of citizens. Protect our children, protect us, protect our city, protect our communities, our villages.

 

When you protect everything that belongs to us, bandits will not come and kidnap us, kidnap our children, our wives, our husbands or any of our family members, our church members, our neighbors before we talk about negotiation.

 

So, these whole thing about negotiation is a diversionary tactics for me. It is just like saying I did not do well and instead of owning up that I did not do well, we are playing games and talking about the issue of negotiation.

 

No, the governor cannot negotiate for us. The governor is supposed to protect us. If we look very well, it is the failure of government that brought all these issue of kidnappings. So, the governor should not be talking about negotiations. He should just protect lives because that is what the constitution asked him to do.

 

What is the way forward now…?

 

The simple way forward is for the government to do what the constitution empowers it to do. It is as simple as that.

 

Stop this propaganda, stop settling scores with perceived enemies, stop thinking people are against you. No one is against you. What people are just asking is for you to govern well by action and not by mouth.

 

But now that government has not been able to stop the bandits from abducting students, where do we go from here?

 

That is why we are saying all this stand about not negotiating with kidnappers is politics. What we simply want the governor to do is to do what the constitution says he should do, protect the lives and properties of the people. Then, we will have no reason to talk about kidnapping and negotiations. If he has done his job, we will not be talking about bandits, about negotiations. Bandits will not be able to go near our children, not to mention negotiations. All the attention has been diverted to this issue of not negotiating with the bandits. But that is diversionary. The main issue for us is to protect lives and properties. Defend us the way we gave you the mandate to defend us. You know if I carry a gun against the bandits now, I will be charged for murder. If anything happens, people will now forget that the man that wanted to kill me is a bandit. So, it is the government that has the power to deal with criminals, deal with the bandits and it will not be murder. So, that is what we want government to do. How did these people enter our towns? Don’t we have security at our border? How do they enter and carry people on bikes and go away with them, especially in that large number?

 

Don’t we have security again? Don’t we have tracking device to know where these people are? How do they call people to negotiate with them? Tomorrow, we will be told that they know where the bandits are but they cannot engage them because it will affect those they have kidnapped but those kidnapped are already being killed. We are only giving excuses for what we are supposed to do.

 

What we really need now is governance, not all these stories. Govern us well and make criminals and bandits to be on the run. They will be running that they will not have time to attack us. They will not have time to think, plan or strategize.

 

Look at few days ago, the bandits had the audacity to go on VOA and insult the state governor. Insulting all of us in Kaduna here and we don’t have a governor that can talk for us.

Let me tell you, if I were the one that said what that bandit said, he would have called the media, the Radio stations and insulted us and said we are failed politicians, but look at what the bandits said; criminals insulting our governor.

 

Following the threat to kill the students, what will you say to the bandits?

 

Did the bandits even listen to anybody? Even if they do, only on the radio. Let us be honest with ourselves and understand the people we are dealing with. Perhaps, if the bandits will listen, we will only plead with them to know that they are only fighting the wrong enemy.

 

The common man in Nigeria has not offended the bandits. The common man is also hungry like the bandits. The bandit Commander said he is just someone looking for food. The common man, who he has kidnapped is also someone looking for food like him. You are also kidnapping someone looking for food like you.

 

You have not done what is right. That is where the bandits are getting it wrong. They are terrorizing innocent people, weak people, jobless people, hungry people. They are terrorising people that are living in fear. If they really have a demand, let them demand with the powers that be and not the innocent citizens.

 

 

Since it is apparent that the government cannot protect us all, what can the people do?

 

Yes, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria empowers people to protect themselves. Our people must wake up and government itself has come to agree that people should protect themselves. I think it was the Minister of Defence that said the other day that we must stop being cowards. I want to add my voice to his that we must stop been cowards.

 

If these people have blood in their veins, let us face them and I am happy that some communities have started doing that. If people face them, eventually they will run away. Let them stop behaving like some small god; anytime they come, people will start running away because we don’t have weapons.

 

That is why I want to challenge government to licence people with official guns to defend themselves. I really don’t want anyone to have illegal guns. But if we have guns that are licenced, we can deal with these people.

 

Because they are colonizing everybody, people cannot afford to go out, to the farm, market or even travel. We should be able to protect ourselves. It is our rights to protect ourselves. If governments have failed to protect us, we should not sleep anymore, we should protect ourselves.

 

What message do you have for the parents of those in captivity?

 

For the parents, I sympathize with them. I understand the pains they are going through, the challenge, the difficulty.

 

Here they are sending their children to the university, paying huge amounts of money, hoping for them to be future leaders of tomorrow with all the sacrifice, only for the bandits to come and take them away.

 

Today, they are paying huge sums of money and getting demands after demands and the government is not helping them. I pray with them that God will give them the grace to overcome.

 

I believe that God will do something and those still alive will come back. That is our prayer and wish. But then what action are we taking?

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