By EDITH BOLOKOR

Pastor Tunde Bakare, Serving Overseer, Citadel Global Community Church has urged the Federal Government to suspend all non-essential gatherings in vulnerable areas nationwide, and place them under emergency patrols.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Bakare made the call at a State of the Nation news conference titled: “The Darkness before Dawn” held at the Citadel Global Community Church in Lagos on Sunday.

The pastor noted that while such measures might appear as militarisation of affected communities, they remained essential and temporary steps of neutralising terrorism in Nigeria.

“The suspension of mass gatherings and increased emergency patrols measures must be taken to prevent further mass kidnappings.”

He lamented that terrorists have intensified their attacks on Nigerians from the moment the U.S President, Donald Trump redesignated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern over allegations of a government-tolerated killing of Christians.

“In a space of one week, troops were ambushed and some killed, dozens of secondary school students abducted in Kebbi, worshippers in a Church in Kwara attacked, kidnapped, some killed and hundreds of students from St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri town, Niger kidnapped.

“The level of insecurity seems to have worsened in response to the global focus on Nigeria as terrorists and bandits brazenly dared the Nigerian state.

“While we rejoice at the release of some of the kidnapped victims, including the Kebbi schoolgirls and the Kwara church worshippers, as well as escape of some of the pupils kidnapped in Niger, the continued attacks on communities further underscore the need for fundamental interventions.

“These interventions go to the very essence of our nationhood and the quality of governance in both domestic and foreign policy contexts.”

Bakare noted that years of leadership failure to confront the nation’s underlying crises finally came to a head.

“It is sad that it took the United States Congress—not the representatives elected by Nigerians (National Assembly) to convene a hearing on the lived experiences of citizens suffering under insecurity.”

According to him, to position Nigeria strategically in the shifting global order, an integrated approach is required, one that would involve a critical review of our governance structure, security architecture and geo-economic strategy.

“From convening the Save Nigeria Group to accepting the invitation to be running mate to late president Muhammadu Buhari, to sponsoring the Nigerian Charter for National Reconciliation and Integration at the 2014 National Conference, I have been guided by a realisation.

“The best of the North and the best of the South must come together at the table of brotherhood to forge a strong and united Nigeria,” he said.

Bakare said: “It is the failure of state institutions over the years that transformed a local revolt into a vicious terrorist movement and other unresolved grievances.

“The state’s failure over decades, to address long-standing disputes between Hausa farmers and Fulani pastoralists allowed local tensions to mutate into a sophisticated and deeply entrenched network of terror.

“Whether the violent attacks are motivated by land grab, ethnicity, religion or all of the above, the situation is the height of failure to guarantee security and welfare of the Nigerian people.”

“The Nigerian state has a responsibility to invade camps of armed marauders who hide under the cloak of herdsmen of whatever ethnicity, and who invade defenceless communities and gleefully massacre unarmed men, women and children.

“From the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to the Eastern Security Network (ESN), to the so-called unknown gunmen, the reaction has ranged from a revolt against the Nigerian state to sheer criminality.

“The trial and sentencing of Biafran separatist, Nnamdi Kanu, which took place at the same time that Donald Trump shifted the world’s attention to Nigeria, has tended to reopen old wounds.

“It is time for Nigeria to truly heal from the Civil War. It is time for the Nigerian state to take concessionary steps to ensure equity for the South East.

According to Bakare, at the 2014 National Conference, the progressives were convinced that Nigeria does not need the creation of additional states.

“We strongly believed that what was needed was the consolidation of states into geopolitical zones, rather than the further balkanisation of non-viable states.

“However, for the sake of trustful give-and-take, and in the spirit of equity, we, at the Committee for Political Structure and Forms of Government, aligned with our Committee Chairman, elder statesman, retired Gen. Ike Nwachukwu, and advocated an additional state for the South East.

“Concessions such as these will lay the groundwork for genuine integration and inclusion in the South South, which includes Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, and Rivers. Years of environmental degradation and resource control disputes led to militancy.”

The pastor also reiterated the call for restructuring Nigeria to ensure cohesion and unity.

“While we acknowledge ongoing efforts of President Bola Tinubu to swiftly address the situation—from the declaration of emergency on security to mass recruitment into the police force—we urge him to rise up to the occasion and restructure Nigeria.

Bakare also suggested that the Federal government should render an apology and compensation to victims of terrorism nationwide.

“This would entail opening a Victims and Survivors Register and the President would tender an apology on behalf of the Nigerian state to communities across the nation, calling each community by name, and, possibly, some of the families most gruesomely hit in the attacks.”

On the issue of state police, Bakare said that the President must not leave the process to state governors or the Governors’ For a of the various zones.

“A nationally driven approach to devolution of policing powers will ensure that the right checks and balances are put in place to prevent subnational executive overreach.”

He said the one-year National Youth Service Corps should be replaced with a two-year scheme, the first year of which would be deployed toward military training and deployment.

The pastor called for standardisation of the nation’s Identity Management System with a view to answering the question, “Who is a Nigerian?”

He also recommended a constitutional referendum to give Nigerians a say on ongoing reforms, such that Nigerians would have the opportunity to determine how they intended to be governed.

Bakare pointed out that by directing that police officers be withdrawn from elite protection to actual policing duties, President Tinubu has already taken a step in the direction of one of our earlier recommendations

“To Nigerians across the nation, let us not despair. Let us instead hold fast to our conviction regarding the destiny of our nation, rest assured that our story will soon change for the better,” he added. (NAN)