New Telegraph

Insecurity: FG should act or people’ll revolt –Archbishop Onaiyekan tells Buhari

•Says: ‘It’s wrong to dialogue with killer bandits’

 

Catholic Archbishop John Onaiyekan, on Saturday, said that non-state actors have taken over the country, adding that the President Muhammadu Buhari- led government should stop pretending that it is the one ruling.

 

This follows the incessant banditry and abduction of students in Niger State that have drawn international attention.

 

The former President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria and Archbishop of Abuja said that it is wrong for the government to talk about dialoguing with bandits, adding that “the government should leave the stage if it can no longer secure the lives of the people it governs”.

 

 

“If the government cannot secure the lives of the people, they should call for a kind of national cohesion.

 

They should stop pretending that they are the ones ruling. In some countries when these incidents happen, it gets to a stage where the government will call for national unity where everyone comes on board to proffer solutions.

 

“If the government continues this way, it will get to a stage where non-state actors will take over,” he said. While addressing journalists in Minna after the ordination of the Auxiliary Bishop of Minna Diocese, Onayeikan warned that: “If the government does not take definite steps, there will be a revolt from the people.

 

“The government has no excuse for the continuous insecurity that is bedevilling parts of the country

 

The fact remains that we are not where we should be. We should not be living in a country where we are always with our hearts in our mouth when we are moving from one place to another.

 

“We should not be living in a country where children cannot study in schools and where killer bandits can come and cart away students and their teachers into the bush and sit there and wait for dialogue.

 

“And government agencies are talking about reaching out to them. It is not the right thing to do. It is about time we have a government that takes care of its people.

“Sadly, we have people who claim to be our leaders, who during elections force us, beg us and cajole us to put them in power, now that they are in power, do your work for goodness sake!” While disclosing that the fight against banditry and criminality in the country is not political, ethical or religious, Archbishop Onaiyekan said: “It is deeper than that.

 

This has nothing to do with APC or PDP, it is not political and we have also seen that it has nothing to do with Islam or Christianity, not even with our ethical differences.

 

“We have a gang of criminals that are almost taking over our country and the government should either do what needs to be done to end it or allow others to do it.”

 

The Archbishop stressed that the government has no excuse for what is currently happening in the country saying: “There is no excuse whatsoever for not doing the work they promised to do.

 

No excuse that people are coming from outside the country and they find it easy to come in with guns and ammunition.” Onaiyekan further warned that: “If there are plans from any quarters to destroy the country, it would not work.

 

“If people are planning to destroy this country so that they can take over, it cannot work. It is not possible. If the government does not act, it won’t be long before there is a reaction from Nigerians and we pray that it will be peaceful.”

 

It should be noted that armed bandits have continually perpetuated and unleashed terror on the people of Niger State with dozens killed, several injured, others homeless and many others abducted.

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