New Telegraph

CAN to el-Rufai: End killings in Southern Kaduna

 

 

 

President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Samson Ayokunle, has charged Governor Nasir el-Rufai to do everything humanly possible to stop the killings in Southern Kaduna.

 

The CAN president told the governor that the present efforts by his administration and the security agencies were not good enough, adding that their best will be good enough when the killings stop.

 

Ayokunle also tasked the governor and other stakeholders in the state to stop the verbal attacks and all efforts should be geared towards curbing the menace. He gave the charge when he met with Governor el-Rufai in Kaduna over the continuous killings in the state.

 

The CAN president, who underscored the fact that the crisis in Southern Kaduna predates the emergence of the el-Rufai administration, said: “One of the main responsibilities of leadership is problem-solving, as it is not about the benefits or the paraphernalia of office alone.

 

“It was because the state had problems that was why the people recognized you as the right peg in the right hole and you were elected.

 

Hence, your office as the governor is a trust, which, by the grace of God, as I pray for you, you would be able to keep and put smiles on the faces of all by working sincerely to restore peace to the places of trouble in this state in Jesus’ name.

 

“Our coming here is neither to place accusation against anyone concerning the crisis nor is it to say that the government of the day has not done anything to stop the continuous killings. It is rather to say that the present best of the government and the security agents are not good enough. It would be enough and praiseworthy when the killings stop.”

 

He said CAN had continued to cry out against the insecurity “because we are tired of seeing human beings being slaughtered like animals. “Whenever you see us complain to your government or the Federal Government, it is because we have no other person to cry or look up to, but you and the security agents.

 

“We equally cry because of the economic downturn this perennial crisis is bringing to the state. We cry out against the killings because of the negative image the continuous crisis is bringing to the state and our nation in the international community. If people say that it is religious or ethnic,

 

 

 

cal and actual transgression to occur, it will constitute not only an injustice against the community displaced, but a challenge to the authority of the state within its territory that cannot be allowed to stand.

 

“We challenge anyone to characterise or differentiate the communal clashes, attacks and killings in parts of Northern and Central Kaduna State, as well as in Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto and Niger states from those in Southern Kaduna.

 

“Is it because in all the other cases, the victims are lesser humans or lacking in voice and media hype? What happened to our common humanity?” el-Rufai also disclosed efforts his administration has taken so far, saying: “The army established a base in Kafanchan, while the Kaduna State government bought an estate to accommodate a mobile police squadron.

 

“The Federal Government also extended the mandate of Operation Safe Haven, based in neighbouring Plateau State, to Southern Kaduna and appointed a commander of the rank of colonel to lead the sector covering parts of area.”

 

He added that the state also collaborated with other states in the North-West and Niger State to undertake joint military and police action in the Kamuku-Kuyambana forest, which served as hideout for bandits, cattle rustlers and armed robbers in the Birnin-Gwari axis.

 

“In September 2017, we established the Kaduna State Peace Commission to help encourage communities in our state to adopt peaceful means of resolving their differences.

 

“We are also addressing the technology side of security through the procurement of drones, the award of contracts to install CCTVs in phases in Kaduna, Kafanchan and Zaria metropolitan areas, build a command and control centre and establish a forensic laboratory,” he said.

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