Don’t allow Kanu to die in detention, Anglican Bishop pleads with Tinubu
* Urges FG tackle economic challenges, insecurity urgently
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
Bishop of Umuahia Diocese, Anglican Communion, The Rt. Rev. Geoffrey Ibeabuchi, has pleaded with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, not allow detained leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, to die in detention.
Bishop Ibeabuchi who made plea while delivering his President Address at the ongoing Umuahia Diocesan Synod holding at All Saints Anglican Church Parish, World Bank Housing Estate Umuahia, the Abia State capital, also urged the federal government to do away with recruiting “repentant Boko Haram members into into Nigeria’s security agencies, do more to fix the numerous economic challenges facing the country which have exposed Nigerians to various forms of hardships and poverty; and churn out good policies that would address the plight of the people.
Making a case for the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu being held at the Secret Police facility in Abuja, Bishop Ibeabuchi said: “We call on our President, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, not to allow Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to die in detention, let him be freed and released. We humbly appeal to the judiciary to do the needful.”
He slammed the federal for recruitment of the so-called repentant members of Boko Haram into Nigeria’s security agencies, describing it as unacceptable.
“The recruitment of ‘repentant Boko Haram members’ into the Nigerian Military, Police and other State Forces is not acceptable at all. What do you expect to see when you recruit enemies of the state and blood-thirsty men and women to protect the state? Your guess is as good as mine.”
He said efforts to create State Police were in the right redirection but cautioned against its manipulation to achieve selfish political motives.
“As a Synod, we commend the efforts of government towards the creation of State Police. We are afraid that it might become an instrument for grassroots politics for the government in power and a medium for silencing opposing voices and political opponents.
“Therefore, we request that if finally approved, adequate laws must be put in place to guide their operations and also ensure that they are not partisan and uncompromisable in their operations,” he said.
Touching on the present sad realities staring Nigerians in the face and exacerbating their sufferings, the Anglican clergy urged the Tinubu-led administration to fix the economy with despatch, to save the country from imminent collapse.
“Personally,” he began, “I lack words with which to describe the situation of our nation compared with other nations of the world.
“Our leaders seem to be interested only in themselves and on how to make more money that they will share at the detriment of the poor masses.
“How can you explain the fact that fuel subsidy was removed without considering its effect on the masses who voted them into power.
“We were told that it was the rich who was benefitting from the subsidy regime. But since its removal, we have seen that it is not affecting only the rich but everyone, except the ‘politicians’ and those in government.
“We are yet to see the CNG buses and the better life that was promised us as dividends of subsidy removal.”
Continuing, the Bishop lamented: “Today, there is scarcity of money, scarcity of food and scarcity of intellectuals. Our best brains have left the country, especially health workers, economists, lecturers, business men and businesses. “Companies are shutting down and relocating in their thousands. So many families cannot afford meals to eat, let alone paying their children’s school fees.”
He noted that government has been encouraging people to go back to farming but tegretted that this was being done without adequate support.
“Government keeps encouraging people to go back to farming. This is very good but when farmers cannot access fertilizers and improved seed and seedlings, what should they do?,” he queried.
The Bishop equally described the current hike in electricity tariff as a sad development.
“The current hike in electricity tariff is another sad one. How do we intend to market a product we have not produced? “For so many years now, we have not generated up to 6000 megawatts of electricity as a country. This is very very sad.
“At the last African Nations Cup, we were mocked as a generator nation and felt offended and insulted. Then, what have we done differently but to punish the masses the more by increasing their burden?” he added.
On the spate of insecurity, kidnapping, banditry, and their likes, bedevilling the country, Bishop Ibeabuchi requested the government “to do more to ensure that lives and property of Nigerians are adequately protected.”
He advised the federal government to “make policies that are people-friendly,” saying “this suffering must end as we pray and work together as a people.”
The Bishop gave the federal government kudos for the inauguration of Geometric Power plant in Aba and recommended that such project be replicated nationwide.
“We commend the federal government for successfully commissioning the Aba Geometric Power plant. We request that this gesture be extended to other parts of the state and the nation,” Bishop Ibeabuchi said.
