Pastor Tunde Bakare, the senior pastor of the 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.
Mr. Bakare made the call at a state-of-the-nation news conference titled “The Darkness before Dawn” held at the 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 to neutralise terrorism in Nigeria.
“The suspension of mass gatherings and increased emergency patrol measures must be taken to prevent further mass kidnappings,” said Mr Bakare.
He lamented that terrorists have intensified their attacks on Nigerians from the moment U.S. President Donald Trump redesignated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern over allegations of a government-tolerated killing of Christians.
“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,” the pastor said.
He stressed the need for fundamental interventions, noting 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,” the cleric said.
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.”
“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.
According to Mr Bakare, the state institutions’ failure to address the farmers-and-herders crisis over the years has transformed a local revolt into a vicious terrorist movement and into other unresolved grievances.
He stated that regardless of what motivates the attacks, “the situation is the height of failure to guarantee the 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.
“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,” said Mr Bakare.
According to Mr 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, and 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 the 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,” he said.
Mr 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,” Mr Bakare said.
On the issue of state police, Mr Bakare said the president must not leave the process to state governors.
“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.
He said the one-year National Youth Service Corps should be replaced with a two-year scheme, with the first year devoted to 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?”
(NAN)