The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on Saturday, strongly rejected the plan by the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, to bring in foreign mercenaries to fight insecurity.
It could be recalled that for some weeks now, bandits have given Kaduna residents unrest.
The bandits had attacked Kagoro residents, killed several people, and kidnapped scores.
Two days after, they stormed nine villages in the Giwa Local Government Area of the state, killed scores and abducted several others.
In less than 72 hours, they attacked the Kaduna-Abuja train, killed eight and kidnapped scores after wounding 26.
Following this development, Governor El-Rufai, had, during the week after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, said that if the Federal Government failed to address the insecurity problem, governors may bring in foreign mercenaries to end terrorism.
However, John Joseph Hayab, Secretary-General of CAN in the state, in a statement on Saturday, begged the Federal Government to stop El-Rufai and other governors from muting such ideas.
According to him, the negative consequences of such an invitation are enormous, hence the need to call El-Rufai to order.
The statement emphasized that if any other Nigerian make such an idea in public space, he would have been accused or arrested by the government for undermining the security agencies and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
It said it doubts if any section of the Nigerian constitution allows any officeholder, apart from the Commander-in-Chief, to invite a foreign combatant into the country.
It further reminded Nigerians that El-Rufai had in the past, used a similar strategy when he claimed to have compensated some herdsmen, leading to the escalation of insecurity in the state.
He said El-Rufai’s previous approach to give gunmen money so that they would stop attacking innocent people had backfired, just as Kaduna State is paying dearly for such a miscalculation.
The statement stated that what Nigeria needs currently is a sincerity of purpose from all stakeholders and the citizenry towards finding lasting solutions, not subjective statements that could further heighten the presence of bandits in Nigeria.
He said CAN would continue to pray and urge citizens to be on the watch against any erroneous direction that could do Nigeria no good but harm.
