ECWA Laments: Our Pastors, Children, Pregnant Members Are Daily kidnapped by Fulani Men Decries growing insecurity in Nigeria

ECWA Laments: Our Pastors, Children, Pregnant Members Are Daily kidnapped by Fulani Men

Decries growing insecurity in Nigeria

The Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) has expressed serious worries over the growing spate of insecurity and criminality in Nigeria “which appears to have overwhelmed the government and its security agencies, as nowhere, either in home, market places, work places, worship places or our high ways are now safe.”

In a statement signed by it National President and General Secretary, Dr. Jeremiah Gado and Rev. Yunusa Madu respectively, ECWA described the development as gross failure on the part of government to provide its most important responsibility of protecting lives and propertyto its citizens.

It added that “the inability of government to meet this very significant obligation to its people is an indication of its total failure.”

The clerics said: “Like many other Nigerians, members of the ECWA are suffering the brunt of insecurity on our high ways which have been taken over by armed robbers and kidnappers who kill, maim, torture, rape, steal and extort outrageous ransoms from their helpless poor victims while security agents look away.

“The situation is now very alarming as cases of kidnapping and armed robbery continue to re-vibrate from all regions of the country on hourly bases against already impoverished citizens on the high ways and in their homes.”

They lamented that “within the last few days, ECWA pastors and members, including heavily pregnant women and children have been kidnapped by very young Fulani men along Abuja-Kaduna road and subjected to various degrees of traumatic experience before being released after payment of ransoms.

“Very recently, one of our pastors who had just regained his freedom was held hostage for five days by some dare-devil young Fulani kidnappers who seized him along Jere-Bwari road, just 200 metres away from a major police check point on the curve bridge on August 5, 2017, at about 7p.m. in the evening after shooting the driver of the vehicle in which he was travelling.

“Considering the short distance between the police checkpoint and the spot in which the pastor and other passengers were attacked by the kidnappers, one would have expected a swift response by the police to rescue them but unfortunately they were helplessly abandoned in the hands of the kidnappers.”

Calling on the federal government to do more to closely monitor the activities of security personnel on the highways and fish out bad eggs among them who metamorphose into criminals on the roads, the duo also urged the government to do all within its powers to improve on the economic livelihood of Nigerians “by creating jobs for our teaming youth population who have taken to various forms of crime to survive due to lack of jobs occasioned by the prolong recession in the country.”