CAN, PDP blame government, APC for insecurity in Kaduna

• Ruling party says terrorism fight not military’s alone, HURIWA seeks Gumi’s arrest
• NIPR, NIMASA, SPN commiserate with train attack victims

Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Kaduna State chapter, has accused the government of turning the state into a graveyard, as it condemned the continuous kidnapping and killing of citizens by terrorists.

The Chairman, Rev. Joseph Hayab, while expressing grief over the recent train attack in the state, stated yesterday: “Mourning is now an everyday ordeal in Kaduna, even as we have a sitting government with huge security votes disbursed monthly.

“Besides, the train attack further amplifies the vulnerability Kaduna people and everyone, who does business in the state, face due to the rise in banditry and terrorism.”

CAN called on the Federal Government to deploy everything at its disposal to crush the bandits, who are having a field day in Kaduna and elsewhere in Nigeria.

ALSO, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has blamed the Nasir el-Rufai government of Kaduna for the level of insecurity in the state, describing it as an evidence of failure of governance.

According to Kaduna PDP Chairman, Chief Felix Hyat, the present level of insecurity in the state has proved that El-Rufai cannot secure the lives of citizens, and that his government has failed. Hyat, who is also the Chairman of PDP Chairmen’s Forum, stated, yesterday: “The security malaise in the state is certainly not what the people of Kaduna bargained for.”

The main opposition party demanded an urgent security summit in the state to find solutions to the problem, before it is too late.

BUT APC said the war against terror should not be left in the hands of security personnel alone. The new National Chairman, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, after assuming office at the national secretariat of the party in Abuja, lamented the Kaduna train attack.

The party noted that the country is not fighting a conventional war. “It is difficult to pass judgment. But we appreciate our men in uniform. They are doing their best. This is not just terrorism simplicita, as lawyers would say. I will dig into it and see what we can do.”

HUMAN Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has asked the Federal Government to arrest controversial Islamic cleric, Sheikh Abubakar Gumi, for persistently defending the atrocious criminality of bandits and other marauders in Northern Nigeria.

In a statement, yesterday, in Abuja, the National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, argued that Gumi had been outspoken as a ‘bandits’ sympathiser’, including demanding blanket amnesty for bandits and venturing into the forests of Zamfara, Katsina, and Niger states to hold discussion with bandits, turning the North West zone to another place of sorrow, tears and blood.

NIGERIAN Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) has sympathised with Nigerians over “the callous attack” on the Abuja-bound train.

In a statement, yesterday, the National President, Mukthar Sirajo, described the attack as unfortunate and unacceptable, as well as “a sad reminder of the descent into the abyss that security situation, especially in that part of the country, has fallen.”

According to Sirajo, while NIPR appreciates the gallant role being played by security and law enforcement agencies to square up to the bandits perpetrating the heinous acts, “it is clear that that a lot more needs to be done to inspire the people’s confidence.”

THE Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh, has commiserated with the Kaduna government over the attack and the invasion of the Kaduna Airport.

In a letter to Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, yesterday, the NIMASA boss expressed shock over the incidents, while sending his condolences to the families of the deceased and the people of Kaduna.

Jamoh urged them to keep faith with the government in their quest to find a lasting solution to the security challenges facing the state.

IN the same vein, Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) has condemned Monday’s train attack and condoled with families of the victims as well as the Trade Union Congress (TUC) over the loss of its General Secretary, Musa Ozigi, and its Kwara State Chairman, Akin Akinsola, in the tragedy.

During the attack, about eight persons were killed, many were injured, while several more were feared kidnapped when terrorists blew up the train track at Rigasa area of Kaduna and opened fire on the train.

The party’s Acting National Chairperson, Abiodun Bamigboye, and National Secretary, Chinedu Bosah, stated, yesterday, that the Kaduna train tragedy demonstrated the bankruptcy and incapability of Nigeria’s corrupt and crooked capitalist ruling elite to safeguard the lives of the citizens, let alone guarantee for them any reasonable standard of living.

Some of the factors responsible for these crises are the condition of mass poverty and wealth inequality, unemployment, failure of successive capitalist regimes to ensure harmonious development of all parts, climate change, divisive activities of competing factions of the ruling class and the unresolved National Question. Unfortunately, no member or section of the corrupt capitalist ruling elite has the solution to these problems,” they said.

SPN, therefore, demanded immediate compensation for the families of the dead, adequate care for the injured and immediate rescue of the kidnapped.

It also urged the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), who also lost a member, Dr. Chinelo Megafu, to use the occasion of this tragedy to launch a national day of mourning and demand from the President Muhammadu Buhari government an immediate end to the raging insecurity across the country or resign.