Pastors in Kaduna went to the streets on Thursday under the banner of the Interfaith Alliance, demanding the Federal Government to take up action against hoodlums who carried out recent bomb attacks in various parts of the state.
They said that it was past time for the authorities to put a stop to banditry.
The concerned religious leaders also urged the government to recompense all victims, provide scholarships to impacted children, and rebuild towns devastated by the ongoing assaults.
The convener, Rev Emmanuel Adebayo, urged the Federal Government to alleviate the victims’ sufferings and assist them in overcoming trauma.
He also stated that the government should be more proactive in its efforts to combat terrorism.
He said, “The essence of our gathering today is to put together what we refer to as ‘Kaduna prays’, a prayer against insecurity. I am sure everybody knows that Kaduna is one of the states plagued by incidences of banditry and terrorism and various forms of criminal activities and of late, they have been on the increase.
“We believe that the government is doing its best, but its best has not been good enough. That’s why we have come out to seek divine intervention concerning the issue of peace and security in Kaduna State and Nigeria at large.
“Obviously, we are not satisfied with the way the government is going about insecurity at the federal level. However, we want to acknowledge the little efforts that have been made but we believe that more can still be done. Government needs to be pre-emptive.
“We have been hearing about the cry of our governor; he said he has been taking the reports to those concerned; he said they know where they are and that they listen to their telephone conversation but the response from the security agencies is not good enough.
“So we are praying that God should touch their hearts to put in more effort and to be more responsive so that this issue of insecurity won’t be more reactionary but be preventive and we pray that God will give them more wisdom on how to go about it.
“Kaduna state government bombing the forest is a welcome development but what we expect is that the government should carry out precision attacks. When you said carpet bomb, they can hide among innocent people. So if you carpet bomb them, innocent people will die. So we believe that the government monitor their movement through intelligence and carry out the bombing.”