The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) yesterday declared that killings by herdsmen across the country will cost President Muhammadu Buhari his second term bid.
The christian bloc further vowed to mobilise faithful to reject the president in 2019.
General Overseer of Charismatic Renewal Ministries (CRM) Dr. Cosmas Ilechukwu, who read the communiqué issued at the end of the CRM Annual Leaders’ Retreat at the headquarters of the church in Owerri, also announced the rejection of cattle colony proposed by government.
Ilechukwu, also the Chairman of the South-east PFN, called on President Buhari to overhaul the nation’s security hierarchy for more effective performance, insisting that the current security heads have failed in their responsibilities to protect the lives and properties of Nigerians.
He noted that President Buhari’s failure to respond promptly to this genocide in Benue State and his refusal to visit the affected communities score him very low in his value for human lives.
“We feel pained that President Buhari who swore to defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has failed abysmally to discharge this constitutional responsibility to protect the victims of these incessant attacks.
“When a government fail to do what is responsible to do, then the people will reject such government through their votes. The only thing we do is to reject the second term of President Buhari. We will join forces with the civil society organisations (CSOs) to defend ourselves and in strong terms show them the way out.
“Does it then mean that President Buhari places a higher premium on lives of cows than on that of human beings? When the incident of cattle rustling was reported in Zamfara, the President promptly mobilised the military including the Air Force, to recover the stolen cattle and restore order to the area. But when 73 innocent and helpless Nigerians were slaughtered in cold blood, the president did not show adequate concern.
“We condemn, in very strong terms, the genocidal and ethnic cleansing attacks on several villages in Benue, Kaduna, Adamawa and Taraba States. We state categorically that the barbaric killings witnessed in Benue and other places were carried out by very well-trained Fulani militia armed with sophisticated weapons who targeted Christian communities. They are not herdsmen. The herdsmen we have known over the years do not carry sophisticate guns.
“The atrocious activities of the Fulani Islamist militia tend to portray them as prosecuting a Jihadist agenda without being actively checked by the security agencies. Ordinarily, one is not permitted to carry a gun without a licence. And even when licensed, one can only carry a single or double-barreled gun, not an AK-47 or machine gun. Yet the Fulani militia members go about with sophisticated weapons and nobody has arrested them.
“Most of the places where the Fulani militia have attacked are Christian communities. This goes to confirm the assertion in some quarters that a Jihad is going on in Nigeria presently. We condemn the demolition of churches in Adamawa, Jigawa and some other states in Northern Nigeria. The planned extermination of Christianity in these states is unconstitutional and a serious threat to peace and unity of Nigeria,” the communiqué stated.
Ilechukwu, however, appealed to Christians and other concerned Nigerians not to take laws into their hands but to be security-conscious.
He prayed to God to intervene in the country.
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