Nigerian Bishops seek end to Southern Kaduna killings
By our reporter
Aug. 11, 2020 – The Pentecostal Bishops Forum of the 19 Northern States (PBFNS) in Nigeria has called for swift intervention to end the incessant killings in Southern Kaduna communities and strengthened security arrangements across the communities.
The bishops made the call at a news conference on Tuesday in Abuja, emphasised that the killings in Southern Kaduna must stop.
Archbishop John Praise, Founder, Dominion Chapel International Church and Chairman PBFNS said also urged the government to ensure prompt arrest and prosecution of perpetrators of the gruesome acts.
He also added that the masterminds and sponsors must be brought to book as well.
Bishop Praise said that the government should institute a regime of structured compensation for losses incurred by helpless victims who were still alive or relatives of dead ones.
He also called on the government to mobilise, engage traditional and religious institutions in the area for effective consensus building among the various socio-cultural and economic groups.
The cleric called for effective sensitisation of the people to their responsibilities toward one another and to the government, as well as the need for harmonious relationships in the communities.
He further advised the government to revisit the age long simmering socio-economic and political feuds among the various groups in order to arrive at an equitable, acceptable and enduring solution.
The bishop said that men of good conscience should speak up and condemn unreservedly the naked savagery and act of genocide being perpetrated daily against the southern Kaduna people.
“We must move beyond rhetoric and demand decisive actions from those whose duty it is under the constitution to protect the defenseless citizens.
“The situation had assumed a dangerous dimension of ethic cleansing, going by the methodology and clinical decimation of the population of the indigenous people with mindless ruthlessness.
“At the last count, communities have been attacked by armed herdsmen, alleged to be of Fulani extraction while many have been killed and rendered homeless.
“The audacity of the recent attacks and the inaction of the relevant security formations to bring the perpetrators to justice suggest a wicked collaboration, double standard and sabotage in certain quarters.
“And this gives the impression that a sinister script is being acted out to overrun the people and forcefully annex their ancestral heritage in all ramifications,” he said.
The cleric, however, noted that the news conference was not to blame the government outrightly, having noted its repeated efforts at working tirelessly to arrest the ugly development,
“Though, it is lamentable that no arrests and prosecutions have been recorded to date, we are joining our voices to the patriotic cries of concerned citizens,
“And groups nationally and internationally to strongly call on President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Nasiru El-Rufai and relevant government functionaries to do more,” he added.