FG must probe how guns are supplied to herdsmen

Reverend Ayokunle

The national president of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, Reverend Samson Ayokunle, has called on the Federal Government to investigate how herdsmen are supplied with guns and bring culprits to book.

Reverend Ayokunle stated this at a press conference in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, while addressing journalists on the state of the nation, while also advising the present administration to learn from the mistake of the last administration.

According to him, “We want to call the attention of the Federal Government to the impending dangers in the violent attacks by the herdsmen in different parts of the nation. Checkmating the violent acts of these herdsmen in time will be helpful to us all in this nation before they become a terrorist group that is too formidable to overcome.

“To the best of our knowledge, what the government ought to do is to properly investigate how guns are supplied to these herdsmen, bring to book those behind the supply and recover the guns from them. Furthermore, herdsmen going around with guns must be prosecuted for illegal possession of firearms.

“We need to urge the present administration to learn from the mistake of the last administration in the country which did not take quick and necessary action on the Boko Haram terrorist group until they became almost too formidable and better equipped than our military. We cannot afford to lose the souls of many innocent citizens again, just as we lost them to Boko Haram attacks.”

Ayokunle, who is also the vice-president, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), lauded President Muhammadu Buhari’s government for waging relentless war against corruption. He said corruption had retarded the growth of the nation, as national resources expected to be expended on the development of Nigeria had been embezzled, mismanaged and/or misappropriated at the local, state and federal government levels.

His words: “This act was perpetrated by the political leaders and the civil servants. However, as others have observed before, this fight against corruption has to be more embracing.’’

 While urging President Buhari to use the funds recovered from corrupt people to develop the almost non-existent infrastructure in the nation, Ayokunle, who is contesting as the president of CAN, having been nominated by the same body in this month’s election, urged Kaduna State government and his colleagues to treat the issue of legislation over the mode of preaching in Kaduna with utmost caution so as not to fan ember of religious disunity in the state.

Source:Nigeria Tribune