CAN, ACF condemn Boko Haram’s attack on Bauchi prisons

By Emeka Mamah
Kaduna — The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, and the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, have condemned the attack on Bauchi Prisons by members of the notorious Boko Haram sect, just as Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State has enjoined citizens of the state to continue to live in peace and harmony as Muslims celebrate the end of the Ramadan fasting.

Members of the Boko Haram (Western education is a taboo) sect last Tuesday evening invaded the Bauchi Prisons and set it ablaze in a bid to free their members detained over last year’s uprising by the sect.

But the Kaduna State chapter of CAN in a statement by its Secretary, Reverend Joseph Hayab, expressed regret that the nation’s intelligence agencies failed to forestall the resurgence of the Boko Haram.

The association urged the Federal Government to overhaul the nation’s intelligence agencies to save innocent citizens and the nation in particular.

It asked: “CAN wishes to express dismay and surprise at the capacity of our intelligence community, going by the trust and the hard earned taxes of Nigerians being committed to the nation’s security on the imperative to protect Nigerians from insurgency, banditry…

“We are alarmed that such a plan by the alleged ‘Boko Haram’ will re-group, and carry out attack on the prison without fore-knowledge of our security agencies.

“Does it mean that there is no monitoring and close watching? Does it also imply that it is deliberate or intentional laxity?”

Also, the ACF in its Eid-el-Fitr message to Muslims asked the Boko Haram group to desist from hiding under the guise of fighting against the negative influences of Western education and technology to unleash terror on innocent Nigerians.

ACF National Publicity Secretary, Anthony Sani, who made this known in a statement in Kaduna said that since Nigerians were dependent on one another, they should not allow the various tendencies bedevilling the nation to divide them.

ACF urged Nigerians to express love towards one another as Muslims celebrate the Ramadan, which marks the fasting period.

The statement said: “ ACF joins the Muslim community in Nigeria to mark the end of the month of Ramadan and usher in the celebration of Eid-el-fitr. May the abnegation and the ensuing depuration associated with the month of Ramadan be cathartic and constructive in our individual day-to-day lives for the common good?

“It is noteworthy that Allah in His infinite wisdom thought it fit to create humanity with differences in ethnic extractions, in faith and even in colours of skin.”

“ Here in Nigeria though a nation of clustered communities with strong historical ties to land and places, we ought to accept the reality that our overlapping interests are such that we simply cannot survive independent of one another.

“Therefore, working hard to make the most of our differences, to respect them and to love them is not a matter of option but a task that must be done in order to engender relative pluralism for national solidarity as against insular particularism with its fissiparous tendencies.

“To that end, we must stop placing blames for myriad of our national malaise on any form of education and technology.

“This is because the fault lies more with our human attitudes and dearth in core values of humanity than anything else.

“Boko Haram should therefore not push the blame for our societal ills to western technology that is not more than a messenger.”

In a related development, Governor Yakowa commended the residents of the state for living in peace despite the differences in their religious and ethnic leanings.

Yakowa in his sallah message to the people of the state which was signed by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Mr. Reuben Buhari rejoiced “with the Federal Government and the entire Muslim Ummah on the completion of the 2010 Ramadan Fasting and the celebration of the Eid_el_fitr festival.

“His Excellency wishes to express gratitude to the entire Muslim Ummah for the prayers offered for the peace and progress of Nigeria in general and Kaduna State in particular”.

Buhari further quoted Yakowa as praying “that the Almighty Allah makes the spirit of sacrifice, love and sharing that characterized the holy month of Ramadan to continue to guide and abide with everybody in Kaduna State”.

According to Buhari,“while commending inhabitants of the state for their peaceful coexistence, Yakowa further calls on them to continue to pray for all leaders and to be their brother’s keeper irrespective of tribe or religious differences.”