Herdsmen attacks: Be prepared for war - CAN tells Nigerian government

The President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Reverend Olasupo Ayokunle, has called on the Federal Government to prosecute some herdsmen arrested in connection with recent killings in Southern Kaduna and Benue State, stressing that it should be prepared for war if it failed to act.

Ayokunle, who is also the President of the Nigerian Baptist Convention (NBC), warned that failure to stop the unprovoked killings by suspected herdsmen in some parts of the country could spark war in the country.

The cleric spoke in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital at a special service held at First Baptist Church (Miracle Cathedral). The Centenary Estate built by the Ekiti Conference of NBC which is located in Oke Ila area of the town was also commissioned during Ayokunle’s pastoral visit by the Ewi, Oba Adeyemo Adejugbe.

“There is need to pray more for Nigeria because it is only prayer that can save us. Let us continue to pray for the leadership of this country. But I want to urge the government to check the menace of the herdsmen in some parts of the country.

“We are calling on the Federal Government to prosecute the hersdmen arrested in connection with the recent killings in Benue and Southern Kaduna because this will ease tension in the two states.

“We also want the Federal Government to investigate through intelligence gathering those unpatriotic Nigerians supplying the hersdmen with weapons being used to perpetrate evil.

“If the government fails to stop the provocation of the Fulani (hersdmen), they should be prepared for war. No ethnic group has monopoly of violence and no ethnic group should be a monster to others.”