The leadership of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 Northern States and FCT on Friday described the recent admittance by the Federal Government that Boko Haram insurgents are targeting Christians to divide the country as “the beginning of the end of denial”.
Vice-Chairman, CAN, 19 Northern States and the FCT, Rev Joseph John Hayab in a statement said, CAN was making the complaints on killing and kidnapping of Christians in the North not to attack any person or government as wrongly thought by some people, but to help the government so it can be alive to its primary responsibility of protecting lives and property of all Nigerians irrespective of their status.
According to him, “CAN in the 19 Northern states and FCT is happy to hear that, at last, some truths are coming out from the theatre of denial that we have seen displayed by the Nigerian government over the past years.
“Every honest and right-thinking Nigerian and none Nigerians alike following the deadly killings in Nigeria must have recognised that Boko Haram and other killers groups have been targeting Christians for reasons only known to them.
“However, whenever CAN cries out, the response we get from some overzealous representatives of government is that our claims are not correct. The worst of this denial was when our dear president had the privilege to write a column on one famous Christian magazine where his writers chose to use that platform to expose themselves as peddlers of falsehood.
“Our cry has never been to discredit anyone or the government, but the focus has been that those in power should admit the truth about what was happening to Christians in Nigeria, not as a sign of failure but an honest way to finding a workable lasting solution to the evil on going in our land.
“Since the truth can only be delayed but not denied, the Federal Government of Nigeria should use the public admittance by her Minister of Information that Boko Haram and other killer groups in Nigeria truly are targeting Christians to stir a religious war and fashion out ways that Christians, their leaders, and places of worship will be protected.
“The government at this point should also seek to engage critical stakeholders to discuss possible ways of uniting the country to defeat the common enemy, in this case, Boko Haram and the kidnappers, that have made our roads and homes unsafe.
“Accordingly, the government should direct her carefree Spokespersons, both at Federal and State levels, to mind how they respond to people or groups that have legitimate complaints about the safety of their members.
“When persons who are bereaved of a wife, a father, a child or loved ones are insulted at the time they should be consoled, the government simply becomes inhuman and abuses the privilege of office.
“CAN and its entire membership love this country because we have no other country to call ours and want the best for Nigeria, but we can not get the best for Nigeria through denial or claiming ignorance of the pains citizens are going through.
“CAN, therefore, calls for an honest commitment to govern this country with truth and love from leaders. We will never stop praying for and speaking truth to power until we see the Nigeria of our dream comes to reality”, he added.
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