Pastor Tunde Bakare, Serving Overseer,Citadel Global Community Church has urged the Federal Government to suspend all non-essential gatherings in vulnerable areas nationwide, and place them under emergency patrols.
9news Nigeria reports that Bakare made the call at a State of the Nation news conference titled: “The Darkness before Dawn” held at the Citadel Global Community Church in Lagos on Sunday.
The pastor noted that while such measures might appear as militarisation of affected communities, they remained essential and temporary steps of neutralising terrorism in Nigeria.
“The suspension of mass gatherings and increased emergency patrols measures must be taken to prevent further mass kidnappings.”
He lamented that terrorists have intensified their attacks on Nigerians from the moment the U.S President, Donald Trump redesignated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern over allegations of a government-tolerated killing of Christians.
“In a space of one week, troops were ambushed and some killed, dozens of secondary school students abducted in Kebbi, worshippers in a Church in Kwara attacked, kidnapped, some killed and hundreds of students from St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri town, Niger kidnapped.
“The level of insecurity seems to have worsened in response to the global focus on Nigeria as terrorists and bandits brazenly dared the Nigerian state.
“While we rejoice at the release of some of the kidnapped victims, including the Kebbi schoolgirls and the Kwara church worshippers, as well as escape of some of the pupils kidnapped in Niger , the continued attacks on communities further underscore the need for fundamental interventions.
“These interventions go to the very essence of our nationhood and the quality of governance in both domestic and foreign policy contexts.”
Bakare noted that years of leadership failure to confront the nation’s underlying crises finally came to a head.
“It is sad that it took the United States Congress—not the representatives elected by Nigerians (National Assembly) to convene a hearing on the lived experiences of citizens suffering under insecurity.”
According to him, to position Nigeria strategically in the shifting global order, an integrated approach is required, one that would involve a critical review of our governance structure, security architecture and geo-economic strategy.
“From convening the Save Nigeria Group to accepting the invitation to be running mate to late president Muhammadu Buhari, to sponsoring the Nigerian Charter for National Reconciliation and Integration at the 2014 National Conference, I have been guided by a realisation.
The best of the North and the best of the South must come together at the table of brotherhood to forge a strong and united Nigeria,” he said.
Bakare said It is the failure of state institutions over the years that transformed a local revolt into a vicious terrorist movement and other unresolved grievances.
“The state’s failure over decade, to address long-standing disputes between Hausa farmers and Fulani pastoralists allowed local tensions to mutate into a sophisticated and deeply entrenched network of terror.
“Whether the violent attacks are motivated by land grab, ethnicity, religion or all of the above, the situation is the height of failure to guarantee security and welfare of the Nigerian people.”
“The Nigerian state has a responsibility to invade camps of armed marauders who hide under the cloak of herdsmen of whatever ethnicity, and who invade defenceless communities and gleefully massacre unarmed men, women and children.
From the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to the Eastern Security Network (ESN), to the so-called unknown gunmen, the reaction has ranged from a revolt against the Nigerian state to sheer criminality.
