By Tosin Olatokunbo
The nation’s security has collapsed, Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja Catholic Archdiocese, His Eminence, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, has said.
Onaiyekan spoke barely a week after President Muhmmadu Buhari told a British tabloid, Bloomberg that the country is now safer than he met it when he came to power in 2015.
SBM Intelligence, a leading research company, had few days ago claimed that an average of 13 persons were abducted daily in Nigeria bringing, while 2,371 persons had been kidnapped within the last six months.
The firm is a leading research consultancy group, versatile in the area of primary data gathering, and analyses of data that provides clarity relating to political, economic and social issues in Nigeria and West Africa.
Buhari had, in the face of the insecurity pervading the country told the tabloid that:
“We are leaving Nigeria in a far better place than we found it. Corruption is less hidden for Nigerians feel empowered to report it without fear, while money is returned; terrorists no longer hold any territory in Nigeria, and their leaders are deceased; and vast infrastructure development sets the country on course for sustainable and equitable growth.
“In 2015, Boko Haram held territory the size of Belgium within the borders of Nigeria. Today they are close to extinct as a military force. The leader of ISWAP was eliminated by a Nigerian Air Force airstrike in March.”
But Onaiyekan who spoke in Owerri, the Imo state capital said the nation’s security has collapsed, urging the administration to tell Nigerians the truth that it’s no longer in control of the situation.
“The Buhari administration should stop deceiving Nigerians on the state of the nation, the fiery cleric said.
“It is obvious that there is a lot of deceit in the land. Things that should not happen, are happening and must be that truth is not being told, especially by our leaders,” Onaiyekan said.
He said it’s unacceptable that terrorists are now attacking religious worship centres to kill Nigerians.
On June 10, dare devil terrorists attacked a Church in Owo, Ondo state killing over 50 worshippers in the latest bloody terror attack in the country. Buhari should wake up to his duties and stop playing games with Nigerians, Onaiyekan said.
According to him: “It is a collateral damage to our country’s image that people were worshipping in the church and certain people came with guns and explosives and mindlessly massacred them in cold blood. It shouldn’t happen but, in any case, since it happened, it means that there is something seriously wrong with the system.
“We have never seen this type of things before. Is this the country we grew up in? Is this the country of our collective dream?
Something has definitely entered that has not been with us before. We expect the leaders to exposed and remove that thing.”
Onaiyekon said further that: “Our politicians should stop playing games. Let them tell the truth at all times. In the instant cases of insecurity and mindless killing, banditry and kidnapping, facing us daily, Nigerians should ask our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari and heads of our security agencies, to tell the nation what is happening.
“We hear that the President sent messages of condolence to people in Owo. What do we need these condolence messages for?
The President should stop sending these messages.
“The President should be active and on top of these ugly incidents in the land. He should have fished out the perpetrators of the damnable acts, within one week. That is the only condolence that will give us consolation.
“Eye witnesses to what happened in Owo, Ogun State, claimed that the perpetrators were Fulani herdsmen, but our authorities don’t want to say it and don’t want to tell the truth.
“We have been hearing this. We have refused to believe it but, unfolding events have started making us begin to think that may be, there is some iota of truth in the stories making the rounds. We must tell ourselves the truth. Our politicians, both in the North and South, should tell the truth to ourselves, so that we can stop sacrificing innocent lives,” the Cleric said.
