The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has condemned the recent killing of not fewer than 43 rice farmers in Borno State by the Boko Haram insurgents, describing the incident as a national disaster.
CAN President, Rev. Samson Ayokunle, in a statement on Friday, urged the security agencies to stop the unending mass killings by the criminals who now operate with impunity all over the country, especially in the Northeast and Northwest of the country.
“We are shocked, disturbed, saddened to learn that criminals invaded the Garin Kwashebe community and murdered the innocent farmers while harvesting their products.
“As usual, the number of the deceased gruesomely murdered remains disputed by the Federal Government. To us at CAN, 43 was not only frightening but inexcusable by those who should have prevented it. The massacre was wicked and completely satanic,” Ayokunle said in a statement by his spokesman, Pastor Adebayo Oladeji.
He said that a situation where farmers are being taxed by the terrorists and bandits before they are allowed to work on their farms is unprecedented and must be stopped by the government before it is too late.
“We are not aware of any country where similar lawlessness is taking place without being adequately checked. CAN calls on the security agencies to wake up from their prolonged slumber and save their image. The government is urged to think out of the box and take adequate steps to bring the terrorists to their knees rather than finding excuses to justify failure of governance.
“Mass burials without a full-scale war are unprecedented and unacceptable. We are pained to observe that killings and kidnapping of people are no longer news in the country and no one is immune from it. Why should we be watching for a nation well situated by God to become a land that is swallowing its inhabitants?”the statement said.
He prayed that God comfort the relatives of those who were killed and save the nation from total collapse.
