The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) on Wednesday called on the Federal Government to initiate a policy aimed at effectively checking the incessant attacks by armed herdsmen on persons and communities across the country.
To this end, the church has advised the government to immediately embark on disarming the Fulani herdsmen known to bear dangerous assault weapons and rifles with which they had been attacking hapless and unarmed Nigerians.
The church said that it had, therefore, become imperative for the government to take drastic steps in stopping the killings of persons by herdsmen in the country.
The Primate Primate of All Nigeria Anglican Communion, Most Reverend Nicholas Okoh, stated this at the Church of Nigeria Standing Committee Meeting held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
Okoh, who said that it was unconstitutional and unlawful for some people in the country to freely bear arms, noted that such development would increase crime rate in the country and result in serious threat to the nation’s security.
He said, “It is unconstitutional and discriminatory for some individuals in the same country to bear arms freely and others cannot. Such a situation will perpetuate crimes increasingly and it is a threat to permanent peace. The standing committee wishes,
The Primate, who mentioned Agatu, Enugu and Zamfara as places where armed herdsmen had attacked innocent people and communities, maintained that herdsmen bearing arms must be disarmed.
“Our government must find a solution to the killings. People who carry arms must be disarmed. We have occasions as we speak like in Agatu, Enugu, Zamfara, people whose land suffer the killings on a large scale,” he said.
Okoh, who also expressed worry over the increasing rate of kidnapping in the country, urged the Federal Government to use force to tackle the problem, saying that it had continue to pose serious threat to the security the nation and the economy.
“The rising spate of kidnapping all over the country is alarming and worrisome. The Standing Committee wishes to call on the Federal Government to us all forces to her to fight this menace. The apparent boom in kidnapping business is neither good for our security nor for the country’s economy,” he noted.
Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, thanked the leadership of the Anglican Communion for holding the event in the state 27 years after it was first held there.
