He said,” Yesterday, at about 11:30 pm about 20 gunmen in their large numbers came to carry out an operation at Grow homes estate along Kuchibiyi. We heard the sounds of gunshots, there was panic in the entire community as a result of the incident
2023 PRESIDENCY: NSCEA MAKES DEMANDS
Our Fears of Tinubu/Shettima’s Presidency— NSCEA
Nigerian Supreme Council for Ecclesiastical Affairs (NSCEA) days ago had sent some messages, to any President-elect that would emerge from 2023 presidential election, in a Press Release, what the Christian community would expect from the incoming President.
Bishop Prof. Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies, Secretary, Elder’s Council, NSCEA had presented a list of fifteen (15) core and basic reality points in summary from a comprehensive list, for the INCOMING PRESIDENT for the Christian community.
NSCEA thus, now re-presents the DEMANDS made and gives the President-elect ASHIWAJU Bola Tinubu some of the demands to make the incoming President to hit the ground running. The list is as follows:
1. To protect Christians from being persecuted and slaughtered.
2. To remove Nigeria from the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC), the Saudi-led Islamic Coalition against Terrorism and other Islamic associations as a secular state.
3. To completely stop and put an end to Fulanization and Islamisation in Nigeria.
4. To reconfigure’ Buhari’s lopsided appointment for Fulani Northern Muslims.
5. To spread appointments given between the North Muslims and the South Christians evenly for inclusion.
6. To enforce state policing as being agitated for by Nigerians.
7. To review the items on the exclusive list of the constitution towards the autonomy of the states.
8. To provide jobs for the teeming educated southern Christian youths like their Muslim counterparts
9. To return the Christian missionary schools to the owners in the 36 states of the country.
10. To return to the status quo ante the dressing of students in schools and civil servants – Not dressing in hijab.
11. To stop the policy of Church paying tax i.e, Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020 as it applies to churches.
12. To go back to Regionalisation governance towards a restructuring agenda. 13. To stop the kidnapping and forceful marriage of Christian girls in Northern Nigeria with a penalty to perpetrators.
14. To fulfil the 35 percent affirmative action of millennium goal for the women, with the Christian women’s 50% inclusion.
15. To give Nigeria a new balanced secular state constitution.
The Christian community has so much suffered being marginalized, victimised and persecuted in the past eight years by the current Muhammadu Buhari APC-led administration in Nigeria.
In an instance, On March 12, 2023, News on Owo attack reports: “Ondo commences construction of memorial park to honour slain victims.”
“The Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, says the state has commenced the construction of a memorial park in honour of slain victims of the Owo attack.
Speaking during an inspection of the construction site of the memorial park, the Governor said his administration is determined not to forget the souls that have departed.
In a statement on Saturday, Akeredolu said the memorial park, located in the heart of Owo town, will be a beauty to behold when completed. We would recall, “On June 5, 2022, gunmen attacked St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, killing about 40 people and leaving many injured after the incident.”
The Presidential Election may have come and gone but while the controversies and maladies that surround our electoral system continues to divide opinion among Nigerians and international observers, NSCEA gives green light.
While the burden of responsibility falls on us to continue to dissect the issues that have bedeviled the 2023 polls, and direct the nation on a better way to go in our collective quest for a better Nation, with credible elections as we continue with future elections; NSCEA would like to say that the move by ASHIWAJU to galvanise all efforts so far is very commendable.
We are impressed, “The Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu has revealed that Nigeria’s president-elect, Bola Tinubu has set up committees to reconcile his camp with his challengers who lost to him in last Saturday’s presidential election.
“According to Akeredolu, the committees comprise elders of their party, APC, who “would soon begin to meet with co-contestants of the President-elect in a bid to assuage their loss in the just concluded Presidential Election.” He noted that all the aggrieved persons will be “met for reconciliation”.
Also, in the speech delivered by Tinubu shortly after he was declared the winner of the presidential election, Tinubu extended a hand of fellowship to the contestants and supporters of his opponents in the election.
He stated further, “Whether you are Batified, Atikulated, Obidient, Kwankwasiyya, or have any other political affiliation, you voted for a better, more hopeful nation and I thank you for your participation and dedication to our democracy.”
“This great project, co-Nigerians, it is bigger and more important than any partisan divide. To my supporters, I ask to continue to face the mission that we have articulated. To those who did not support me, I ask that you should not allow the disappointment of this moment to keep you from realising the historic national progress we can make by working together,” he said.
NSCEA thus thank ASHIWAJU Bola Tinubu for this spirit of call for a Unity government, and urged the President-elect, Bola Tinubu to please further consult widely with Christian body, because of our fear and agitation of the Muslim-Muslim ticket which we had earlier on expressed, in order to avert such grave consequences in the country.
We wish to use this medium to congratulate Ahmed Bola Tinubu and express our support for him and Shettimma.” God is in the story and big picture. Our God is in the details and he is even more in our disappointment and dissatisfaction, He the Almighty controls them. (And we know that all things works together and God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28).
Our great concern now is that, the President–elect should consult with Christian leaders on the issues that concern and affect us. We are tired of the incessant persecutions, mass murdering, slaughtering and killings of Christians in Nigeria especially in the Northern Nigeria and Middle belt. We urged Ashiwaju Tinubu to tackle insecurity in Northwest, and other parts of Nigeria.
Similarly, we want to appeal to the President-elect to face the issues of Insecurity and Insurgency, viz: Jihadists, BokoHaram, ISWAP, Killer Fulani Herdsmen, Assailants Militants, Bandits,. Gunmen, Kidnappers, etc,.
We also urged him to tackle the matter of Nigerian membership of OIC, implication of SUKUK Islamic banking in Nigeria— “A sukuk is a sharia-compliant bond-like instruments used in Islamic finance” as well as, Regionalisation and Restructuring towards True Federalism on mind as core focus in the country.
Just yesterday for instance, as always, we read: “Bandits kill pastor’s son, kidnap wife, three others in Kaduna as published on March 10, 2023 in a news report by John Gabriel.
“Bandits on Friday morning in Karimbu-Kahugu community in Lere Local Government Area of Kaduna State killed a pastor’s son and kidnapped four members of his family including his wife.
“The Vice Chairman, Kahugu National Development Association in Lere Local Government Area, Peter Mukaddas said the bandits invaded the community in the early hours of Friday morning, went straight to the pastor’s house and carried out the attack.
“According to him, the bandits shot the pastor’s son when he resisted them, and thereafter, abducted his wife and three others in the house.’
“Meanwhile, the Kaduna State Police Command Public Relations Officer, DSC Mohammed Jalige did not pick up his calls, just as he did not respond to text messages sent to him.’
In Abuja, “Gunmen attack Abuja estate, kidnap nine”. “No fewer than nine residents have been kidnapped by gunmen at the Grow Homes Estate along Kuchibiyi in the Kubuwa area of the Federal Capital Territory.