• Resign if you can’t protect citizens, Onaiyekan tells Buhari
• Coalition, Womanifesto issues four-week ultimatum to govt over insecurity
Ondo State government, yesterday, confirmed the number of people killed in Sunday’s attack on St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Owo.
Giving the breakdown in Akure, the state capital, Commissioner for Health, Banji Ajaka, said: “The total involved as of today (Tuesday) is 88. And the breakdown is this; out of the 88, we have confirmed 22 dead. There were about seven people treated on an outpatient basis at St. Louis Hospital. There are 19 on admission at the same hospital.
“Sixty-six worshippers survived the attack. This morning, a three-year-old child was admitted as a result of the blast. The baby was still in shock due to the sound of the explosion.”
THIS came as United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, condemned the incident in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric.
He described attacks on places of worship as abhorrent and urged the Nigerian authorities to spare no effort at bringing the perpetrators to justice. He also extended condolences to families of the victims and wished speedy recovery to the injured.
Also, the Regional Director of Save the Children International (West and Central Africa), Philippe Adapoe, said the killings, which included children, is a grave reminder that little ones often bear the brunt of violence and conflict in Nigeria and across the region.
She said: “Our hearts are broken for the families of those killed in this senseless attack, including the innocent children who lost their lives while celebrating in a place of worship. For the children who were injured in this incident, their suffering may last for years.”
She added: “Perpetrators of crimes against children must be held to account and brought to justice.”
REACTING, Metropolitan Archbishop emeritus of Abuja, John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, asked President Muhammadu Buhari to throw in the towel, if his administration can no longer protect Nigerians.
Onaiyekan spoke in Abuja on Monday evening after a service of songs in honour of Lucius Nwosu, an environmental rights lawyer and legal luminary.
He said: “We are not asking for the impossible. It is not going too far to say when government is unable to secure the lives of its citizens, it has no business saying it is in government.
“Government should do its duty to ensure its citizens are secure. That is the primary assignment of government. It is not as if we have never lived in a safe country before. Until about 15 years ago, we were moving around in this country freely.”
ALSO, a coalition of women groups, under the aegis of Womanifesto, issued a four-week ultimatum to government to end incessant killings across the country.
Members of the coalition include Education As A Vaccine (EVA), EiE Nigeria, Emerge Women (EW), Empowerment and Action Research Centre (EARC), Equality Through Education Foundation (ETEF), Equity Advocates/The Woman FACICP Disability Plus, FAME Foundation, Federation of Informal Workers of Nigeria (FIWON), Federation of Muslim Women Association in Nigeria (FOMWAN) and Federation of Paralegal Network (FEDPAN), among others.
According to Co-Convener, Womanifesto, Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, the Owo massacre is another evidence of the blatant disregard for human life by criminal gangs.
The coalition said: “The massacre in which citizens in their place of worship were killed, again, raises the question of governance failure, considering that our 1999 Constitution asserts security and welfare of citizens as a primary responsibility of the government.
“The same constitution centralises the command and control of security establishments in the Federal Government through the President of Nigeria, as Commander-in-Chief of the Nigeria Armed Forces.
“According to a report, at least 14, 641 people have been killed across the six regions in Nigeria in the past three years, and in just the first five months of this year, about 3,173 have been killed and more than 2,293 abducted in similar circumstances.”
“Since 2009, banditry and attacks by herdsmen have risen exponentially, as the government has failed to demonstrate capacity to address the insecurity plaguing the country.
“We, therefore, call on President Muhammadu Buhari, the Federal Government, the Nigeria Police and all other relevant federal law enforcement agencies to take immediate measures beyond condemning this barbaric act and end insecurity in the country.
“Womanifesto demands, in the medium term, a comprehensive restructure of Nigeria’s security architecture through a national conversation on a new constitution to replace the problematic 1999 Constitution.”
The group also urged the government to publish the identities of all the victims of the Owo tragedy. It said government must “demonstrate accountability and carry out a speedy investigation that is conclusive, and leads to arrests, successful judicial prosecution and sentencing of the killers.”
It said government must “make immediate contact, provide constant updates and appropriate succour for all the families of victims of the tragedy and present as a matter of urgency, a state of national security status report to Nigerians, in fulfilment of the constitutional duty of the President and security agencies.”
On its part, Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), in a statement, said: “Since the security of life and property is the responsibility of the government, the government of the day should look into the possibility of completely overhauling the security architecture of the country.
“We also use this medium to call on security agencies to use all legal means to bring the perpetrators of this dastardly act to book.”
