…urges govt to step up efforts at fishing out perpetrators
Segun Babatunde, Bauchi
Seventh Day Adventist Church, Northeast Nigeria Conference, has vehemently condemned the unprovoked attacks launched on the people of Bokkos, Barkin Ladi and Mangu Local Government Areas of Plateau State by a group it described as “blood-thirsty” gunmen on the eve of 2023 Christmas, claiming the lives of many women, children and the aged as well as destruction of properties worth billions of naira.
This is contained in a press release “On the heinous attacks on Bokkos communities in Bokkos local government area of Plateau state, issued by Pastor Joshua Ezra Mallum,
President, Northeast Nigeria Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church which was made available to journalists Thursday in Bauchi.
According to the release, “The Seventh-day Adventist Church is deeply disturbed by the recent rounds of gruesome attacks and is hereby expressing her stern position of disapproval and outright condemnation; most especially as the recurrence of such over the past few years hints at a well-calculated orchestration aimed at achieving an evil agenda of decimation for obvious reasons.
“It is on this note that the North East Nigeria Conference of the Seventh Day Adventist Church issues this press release to express the Church’s utter dismay, shock and sorrow, noting that the acts were as senseless and barbaric, just as they were unjustifiable.
“The Church also observes with chagrin that despite repeated calls from well-meaning groups and individuals on the government to set up a machinery for tackling the security challenges in Plateau State and across the Federation, repeated manhunts and genocidal invasions of territories have become the order of the day, sometimes happening for long hours within the proximities of security outfits and in manners that overwhelm the inhabitants of the besieged communities”.
The church said it was “More worrisome is that these recent attacks were perpetrated in broad daylight, unlike the previous ones that were achieved under the cover of the night dark.
“It becomes much more worrisome that any distress cries through the modern means of communication that promises to be swift and efficient to get the attention of security personnel seem to dissipate into thin air as if the community has been thrown into a region of oblivion from where it cannot be heard.
While acknowledging that the Church acknowledges that the people of Bokkos, Barkin Ladi and Mangu, and indeed Plateau State as a whole are peace-loving and hospitable people undeserving of such visitation of mayhem, the release sympathised and mourn “with the innocent victims of these heinous acts, and call on the security agencies to beef up security measures to curb further occurrences and restore the erstwhile peaceful status quo of Bokkos, Barkin Ladi and Mangu as well as Plateau State as a whole”.
The church then called on government agencies, corporate organizations and good-spirited individuals to expedite action for the immediate provision of relief materials to the displaced victims and those in the IDP camps.
“We also urge the government to step up. efforts at fishing out the perpetrators and bringing them to. book by the requirements of justice.
“we encourage the entire people of Plateau state to remain steadfast in its reputable peaceful disposition and to initiate measures of protection against further attacks.
“While the church mourns with Plateau on the dastardly act, we take solace in the word of God that sorrow, death, and pain will all end when Jesus wipes away all tears in our eyes Revelation 21:4.
“Finally, we pray with the peace-loving people of Plateau State for God Almighty to expose the hidden plans of the enemies and bring their schemes to nought”.