The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has described the killing of innocent people and destruction of property by bandits at the Goronyo Central Market in the Sokoto State as painful and shocking.
CAN commiserated with the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, the people and the government of Sokoto State on the killing.
The Christian body called for a total overhauling of security architecture with a view to injecting fresh energy and ideas into the system, adding that the security architecture has been compromised.
CAN urged President Muhammadu Buhari to ask the National Assembly to amend the constitution with a view to allowing State Police as is being done in other climes.
According to a statement issued on Friday by CAN’s General Secretary, Barrister Joseph Daramola: “The existing system can no longer handle this situation effectively. Nigerians are no longer sleeping with two eyes closed because they are all living in fear. This is too bad.
“The bitter truth is we have never had it this bad. The earlier the government realised this, the better for us. We are shocked, pained and disappointed with the reported attacks and the loss of many lives despite all the efforts being made by the government to stop these criminal elements amidst us. CAN condemns in strong terms the operations of these criminals and tasks security agencies to rise up to this menace before it’s too late.
“The fact that the bandits struck when the Chief of Army Staff, a prominent indigene of the State, Lt. General Faruk Yahaya, was visiting Sokoto State, speaks volumes about the evil intentions of the criminals.
“We join the Sultan and Governor Aminu Tambuwal in appealing to the Federal Government to deploy more troops to the state to stop these criminals and their criminalities. While still counting the losses of lives and property at the Goronyo market, the criminals also attacked the Kaduna-Abuja train line. According to Senator Shehu Sani, who was among the passengers that escaped the attack, the bandits planted an explosive that damaged the rail track and shattered the windshield of the train’s engine on Wednesday evening.
