The President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Reverend Olasupo Ayokunle, has called on the Federal Government to prosecute some herdsmen arrested in connection with the recent killings in Kaduna and Benue states.
He said it was only when the suspects were prosecuted that tension that had risen in the two states would reduce.
He spoke in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, during a special service held at the First Baptist Church (Miracle Cathedral).
The Centenary Estate built by the Ekiti Conference of the Nigerian Baptist Convention was also inaugurated by the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Adeyemo Adejugbe.
Ayokunle, who is also the President of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, warned that failure to stop the unprovoked killings by suspected herdsmen in some parts of the country could spark off war in the country.
In a sermon entitled, “Moving Forward, Exhibiting the Features of a Prevailing Church,” Ayokunle said the church had a duty to pray for Nigeria to overcome all its social, economic and political problems.
He said, “There is a need to pray more for Nigeria because it is only prayers that can save us. Let us continue to pray for the leadership of this country. But I want to urge the government to check the menace of the herdsmen in some parts of the country.
“We are calling on the Federal Government to prosecute the herdsmen arrested in connection with the recent killings in Benue and Southern Kaduna because this will ease tension in the two states.
“We also want the Federal Government to investigate, through intelligence gathering, those unpatriotic Nigerians supplying the herdsmen with weapons being used to perpetrate evil.
“If the government fails to stop the provocation by the Fulani (herdsmen), they should be prepared for war. No ethnic group has a monopoly of violence and no ethnic group should be a monster to others.”
Meanwhile, security operatives on Monday arrested 18 suspects in connection with the unrest in Kabala-West and Ungwan-Mu’azu in Kaduna-South Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
Governor Nasir el-Rufai’s Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Samuel Aruwan, said this in a statement on Monday.
There was commotion in Kabala-West and Kaduna-South Local Government Area on Monday as an angry mob stabbed to death a suspected thief in the area.
It was gathered that the suspect had burgled a house on Kaje Street located along the Nnamdi Azikiwe Expressway of the state.
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