Insecurity: Nigeria Will Shine Despite Security Challenges – Osinbajo

Insecurity: Nigeria Will Shine  Despite Security Challenges – Osinbajo

Zainab Tanimu

Kaduna North-West Nigeria

Nigeria No 2 Citizen, Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has said Nigeria is going to shine despite the insecurity problem bedeviling it.

This was said during the Christian Association Of Nigeria (CAN) Kaduna State Chapter’s Peace and Security Submit held at ECOWAS Goodwill Church Narayi, Kaduna.

The Submit which was held to chart a way forward on ending the current security problems in the country had experts to proffer strategies on how to tackle the menace.

According to Vice President Osinbajo who spoke through his representative, the Chaplain of Aso Rock Villa, Rev.  Joseph Malomo, there is hope of Nigeria bouncing back to glory, for there is light in the tunnel.

” I have come as the representative of the Vice President and he believes that Nigeria is going to shine. He believes that Nigeria is like a beautiful and shinning nation that the clouds are covering, but the clouds will be over and Nigeria will appear and peace will be restored. Insecurity will end and God will give us victory in Jesus name.” He said.

Speaking at the submit, both Prof. Yusuf Turaki and Pastor Ladi Thompson agreed that the solution to the security challenges Nigeria is witnessing today is in its root cause.

Turaki in his analysis likened Nigeria to that of a giant tree that used to grow well but suddenly the giant tree begins to Whittier, becomes dried and the leaves begin to fall off.

The solution is in the root cause saying, “but what they forget is that, if you want to find the solution, you need to get to the root.”

Lamenting the present state of the country, the expert prays that God looks into the missery that has turned a vibrant and prosperous Nigeria into what it is today.

Something he said has bewitched Nigeria. That the state of insecurity today, the killings, kidnapping, bandtry, rape and others have made Nigerians to preach a new gospel across the nation.

The gospel, that salvation is found in violence. Everyone he said speaks violence. The politicians, the people, the government, the security agents, all speak violence. Everybody is overwhelmed by violence. He said.

Turaki attributed this to the reason why there is agitation for either the Biafra state, the Oduduwa, the Niger Delta militant group and the rest of it.

Still on the growing state of insecurity, Prof. Turaki linked the root causes of massive Insecurity in the north to the resultant effect of tribalism and religious ideology. He said some people in the north have turned faith into religious ideology and not until both Christians and Muslims fight religious ideology would there be headway out.

In his lamentation he said, the north are united against the south but between them and amongst them, they are divided. They hate themselves to the core citing instances where northerner kills northerner.

We live in a chaotic society call Nigeria. He stated.

Prof. Turaki in his presentation condemned the activities of Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen which he said has wrecked havoc  on the society. The church not an exemption.

How solid rooted is the church today? He asked. The church has become powerless.

Still lamenting he said,

All the southern middle belt areas are under Fulani siege and that government has coined out a deceptive narrative that the crisis is between Fulani herdsmen and farmers.

 “Nigeria politicians know exactly how bandits came into Nigeria but rather than finding solutions would only gossip”.

Rev Ladi Thompson in his analysis of what is happening to our country today  said, Nigeria has been assaulted by the most demonic war in the history of Nigeria. Nigeria is dealing with war that is directly designed by Satan.

“This war is difficult to diagonise. A doctor cannot diagonise a cure until he can diagonise the disease. This war is so intelligent, it has studied our history, our fronline and our differences.The war is  more than a religious problem. It only wears a religious disguise.

“The war is fought from the inside. It corrupts the mind. You can use terror to crush the soul of the people.

 It is not a conventional warfare. It recognized no rule. It cannot be defeated by conventional wisdom because it has been well designed.

“We are dealing with satanic and not religious war. That is why it is going after soft targets.

It is a global supremacy agenda. It knows what it is doing. It has studied us well.”

The question is, why do people use religion? Because it is the easiest way out.

So, whether in the past or in the present, people will always have their opinions about things but only that of God that matters.

Whatever God has said about Nigeria will prevail. He added.

According to Rev. Ladi Thompson, Nigeria is bleeding.

“The way God is looking at Nigeria security issue and the way Nigeria security men are looking at it can never be the same.

For those who are looking for the future in the past, those calling for Biafra state, Oduduwa and the rest, he said those names belong to the past and that the best future can never be found in the past.

The Reverend called on all hands to be on deck to  salvage Nigeria.

Earlier in his opening remark, the Chairman CAN, Kaduna State’s Chapter, Rev. John Joseph Ayab said the church have met on different occasions to discuss the issue of insecurity bedeviling the nation and the aftermath is what resulted in holding the peace summit.

The summit is to discuss a way out of the evil that has bedevilled our dear nation and state.

“Security challenges in Nigeria and Kaduna State, in particular, is not a new thing to us; it is a monster that we have been struggling very hard for decades to deal with. Every government has had its fair share of this experience. Accordingly, a keen look at our security challenges will reveal two basic facts; one is the proof that the challenge keeps changing with time while the second is that it is outrageous now.

For Kaduna State, in 1987, it was a students’ riot at the Kaduna State College of Education Kafanchan triggering religious intolerance, and then we had the 1992 and 1995 Zangon Kataf communal unrest, ignited by the relocation initiative of a market. Then came the 2000 Sharia crisis and the 2002 Miss World crisis. There was equally the 2011 post-election crisis. Next, Kaduna state witnessed series of bombings believed to be by the BOKO Haram terrorist group.

“However, security challenges in Kaduna State started taking a new form by the end of 2014 with banditry, cattle rustling, and guerilla attacks of towns and villages, especially in the southern part of the state which became worst by 2016.

“The existing challenge is even more terrible with the advent of kidnapping. This turn of events has affected the community, state and the nation terribly. In all fairness, the current problem has adversely hit the body of Christ and humanity in general.

The Chairman backing up his points gave a rundown of people and pastors kidnapped at various points.

Earlier, in 2019, CAN published records of kidnappings where it recorded a total of over five hundred (500) Christians who had been kidnapped. On record, CAN had about eighteen (18) pastors kidnapped with four (4) of them killed namely: Past. Jeremiah Omolara – Living Faith Church, Romi New Extension, Rev. Iliya Anto – Former Vice President of HEKAN Church, Rev. Fr. John Bako Shekwolo – St. Theresa Catholic Church, Ankwa, Kachia Local Government Area and Rev. Hosea Akuchi – Nasara Baptist Church, Guru.

“CAN gathered these records through a questionnaire developed and shared in one of her meeting with hundreds of Pastors and relations of kidnapped victims that over twenty (20) communities were sacked from their communities as a result of their abductions. Data gathered also reveals an approximated amount of money paid as ransom to have people freed within the period, on a survey, to be over three hundred million naira (N 300,000 000) as at 2019. Today, the amount has risen to over a billion naira with many victims’ dead and even more still in the hands of kidnappers as we speak.

When CAN presented the statistics above, CAN was misinterpreted, but a Kaduna state 2020 annual Security report released by government and published by Guardian Newspaper  on 10th of  March, 2021 vindicated CAN and furthered showed that our record did not capture the colossal damage that the spade of kidnapping has brought to bear on the population. The government’s report as published stated that 937 people were killed by Bandit and 1972 kidnapped within the period. Another first quarter 2021 security report published by government reported by premium time, on the 30th of April 2021 indicates that 323 people were killed, and 949 people have been kidnapped, CAN believe that the second quarter report that we are waiting for from government may have a higher figure than what we already have.

“Manifestly, the trouble with Nigeria’s security, like most of our challenges in Nigeria, simply lacks a sincere collaborative effort in solving it.

Ayab called on the need for those in authority to tap citizens knowledge rather than relying on experts alone as security issue is everybody’s problem.

“We should not always analyse the problems from an expert point of view alone. The issues of life are similar. Let us listen to everyone ready to suggest a way out, not only the “professionals.” Traditional leaders, religious leaders, association leaders and even the common people, youths, women and children all have a stake in this matter.

It is against the above background that the church in Kaduna State thought it wise to bring together pastors and church leaders in this great assembly to jointly deliberate and come out with practicable strategies within Christian teaching and biblical provisions meant to complement the government’s efforts in the great task of handling the challenge of insecurity.

He however appreciated efforts of all

stakeholders in the security sector for their untiring efforts to salvage the situation of insecurity in the country.