In his speech titled, “‘Kidnapped RCCG members: Nigeria on the march to Golgotha,” the Christian youth leader further said that incidences of kidnapping in Africa’s most populous nation have “become a norm in our society where humans, on daily basis, could be whisked away by gunmen.”
“For some time now, kidnapping has become the new trend in our society. Our students in Katsina, Zamfara, Niger, Kaduna and other parts of the country were kidnapped. And now abduction of church members. This is disheartening indeed,” he went to bemoan in his March 28 speech.
According to RCCG leadership, the abductors of the eight Christians have reached out to the church officials, demanding a 50 million Naira ransom (US$.131,216.00).
“The government must rise now and take responsibility for the security challenges going on in the country,” YOWICAN’s National Chairman said March 28 and posed, “How could citizens be taken away just like that without a trace?”
Making reference to the March 26 abduction, he added, “This anti-human behavior cannot be corrected by mere condemnation by the government on the pages of Newspapers. No responsible government will just sit or stand akimbo and watch the country slide into anarchy.”
The youth leader went on to urge President Muhammadu Buhari-led government and the security agencies to “sit up” and “act now or never” since “The protection of lives and properties of the common man is their primary responsibility.”
“If the situation does not improve, YOWICAN fears that self-defense may be inevitable as Nigerian citizens may be forced to arm themselves in churches, mosques, while travelling and in some holy places,” he cautioned.
To the official of the ecumenical body that includes representatives of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN) further said that the leadership of the West African nation “must not forget in a hurry, John F. Kennedy who, in 1962, said that, ‘Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.’”
The CAN youth leadership raised concerns over the situation of insecurity in Nigeria, days after a Catholic Priest of the country’s Warri Diocese was released after a weeklong captivity.
Fr. Harrison Egwuenu had been abducted by unknown gunmen on March 15 while returning to St. George’s college Obinomba where he recently assumed the office of Principal.
