By; AMOS TAUNA, Kaduna
The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Alfred Martins, has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led government to identify the perpetrators and sponsors of the recent killings in Plateau State and other parts of the country in order to bring them to book.
According to him, President Bola Tinubu’s action against the evildoers, would prove that they are not being shielded and show that the battle against insecurity is not lost.
In a statement signed by the church’s Director of Communications, Rev. Fr. Anthony Godonu, on Tuesday, Martins noted that the failure of the security agencies to bring culprits to book and their inability to secure their lives further may leave the people to resort to bearing arms to protect their lives and property.
On Christmas eve through December 26, there was outrage attacks on communities in three local government areas of Plateau State leading to the loss of lives and properties worth millions of Naira.
The Catholic Bishop, while reacting said, “The heart of everyone with human feelings must bleed as we watched the corpses of innocent citizens lined up and buried in mass graves after being hacked down by heartless people who have been operating with impunity in many communities.”
He noted that the killings have continued because there have not been any repercussions on those who carry them out, saying that all they see after each round of killing are government officials condemning the killing and promising that the perpetrators would be brought to book.
According to him, the cliché is beginning to sound like a broken record, and people take such promises with a pinch of salt because no one has actually heard of anyone being taken to court or convicted for such heinous crimes, stressing that it cannot be allowed to go on.
He said that the people who are victims of the crimes want to see real action taken to bring justice to their dear ones, pointing out that people’s anger can be assuaged only if those found culpable are brought to book.
He said that they want to know who the perpetrators are and all those who sent them on the inglorious missions, believing that until these are done, the general impression would be that the culprits are being shielded by powerful forces in and out of government circles.
The Archbishop countered the claim that the killings were targeted at Christians, saying that if the killings had happened in areas that are predominantly Christian in population and there are no efforts made to arrest the situation, as is the case today, people would feel entirely justified to come to such a conclusion.
So government and security agencies, according to him have the duty of proving them wrong by ensuring that no stone is left unturned in bringing the perpetrators to book and restoring the confidence of people that they would be protected wherever they chose to live and whatever religion they choose to practice.
He believes that there is no true religion that supports or preaches such atrocious shedding of innocent blood even if some of their adherents abuse their religion in that way, saying that the onus, therefore, also lies on true believers and their leaders to denounce such killings and take proactive steps to bring such mindless killings to an end.
Martins advised the government to find a long lasting solution to the problem and urged religious groups and leaders to do all necessary to help bring the atrocities to an as the consequences of religious discord are very grave.
