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Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Barely a week after women in Zango Kataf walked the streets half-naked to protest the ceaseless killings of Christians in Southern Kaduna, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Kaduna State, has directed its members to appear in black in all their Sunday outings in the next four weeks.
In a unique protest tagged: “Prayer/Indoor Protest on Southern Kaduna Killings,” Christians are to show their displeasure through their dress code and offer prayers over their bereavement. Not surprising, the turn out of Christians for the initial prayer session was huge. ECWA Church’s auditorium, where the event was held, was full to brim as hundreds of Christians showed up.
Clergymen, politicians, civil servants, among other personalities, graced the event. An unconfirmed report said no government official attended the event, despite invitation allegedly extended to them.
The opening hymn raised the hope of the faithful that if men failed to protect them against the reign of evil, God will not forsake them. The worshipers prayed whole –heartedly and so passionately, with most of them speaking in tongues, raising their hands and shaking fervently while invoking curses on the perpetrators of the attacks.
They made entreaties to God, in His infinite mercies, to drive their battle against their enemies and their sponsors. President, Nigeria Baptist Conference, Reverend Ishaya Adamu, who led the prayer, read from the Book of Isaiah 62: 1,6,7, saying: “For Zion’s sake I will not remain silent. For Jerusalem’s sake, I will not remain silent.”
He told the congregation: “Whether we like it or not, evil is taking place in Southern Kaduna. How can we keep quiet at a time like this, when they have killed our children and kinsmen? We must create time to speak; time to cry to God concerning Southern Kaduna. We must pray until peace is restored in Southern Kaduna.”
CAN state chairman, Reverend Joseph Hayab, appealed to Governor Nasir El-rufai to act more and talk less, imploring him to act more and talk less, imploring him to find lasting solutions to the on-going killings in Southern Kaduna. He advised him to show empathy to the people, who lost their loved ones, rather that appropriate blames:
“There is nothing wrong if people are in pains and the governor goes to them and say, ‘sorry’, we will do something about it, ‘calm down.’” He debunked the narrative that the crisis was between farmers and herdsmen in the area, saying the people suffered these attacks and killings in their respective homes and not on their farms.
He urged both the federal and state governments to sh out those behind the heinous crimes by sending more security agencies to the area: “One thing that I must not fail to tell our governor is that he should do less of the talking, and move into action to bring peace to Southern Kaduna.
“If the governor wants us to listen to him, he too should listen to us because he is an elected leader of the people. We will not keep quiet until peace is returned to Southern Kaduna. If there is no peace, we will match to Abuja to tell the President that there is no peace in Kaduna.
“Government has not put these bandits on the run. Our government must put the bandits on the run because if they do that, there will be peace in Kaduna. Enough is enough.
As Christians, we have turned enough cheeks for our enemies, and now there is no cheek to turn again.
“Government should stop speaking for the people that are killing us. There is no way you speak for the person you don’t know. We are not afraid to speak truth to power. They are our elected leaders, they must listen to us.”
He appealed to Christian leaders not to fall victims of the divide and rule in Christendom. He alleged government almost succeeded in doing that through the distribution of COVID-19 palliatives to some pastors with intent to cause division among Christians.
CAN Secretary, Reverend Sunday Ibrahim, expressed optimism that God would take revenge on behalf of the people of Southern Kaduna sooner than later: “This nonsense must stop, God is about to do something in Southern Kaduna.”
Speaking shortly after the event, state chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Hassan Hyet, called on security agencies to sit up and ensure the security and safety of lives and properties in the area and in the state in general.
