From Lawal Sadiq Sanusi, Kaduna
The Catholic Archbishop for Kaduna Archdiocese, Matthew Man-Oso Ndagoso has blamed security lapses for the high casualties recorded during the post-election violence that erupted in some states in the North.
Archbishop Ndagoso, while commenting on the violence in Kaduna state, said for over 30 years the state has experienced one form of violent crisis or the other with the state and federal governments failing to bring the perpetrators to book.
He said people have resorted to protecting themselves because the security agencies have failed to secure the lives and property of the citizens whenever, there is a crisis.
“Each time a crisis happens, people sell their property to buy guns. With each crisis we have had the society has gradually become militarised and now it has reached its crescendo. We have reached a point of no return, given the quantity and quality of arms used during the last crisis,” the archbishop said.
According to him, it is logical to conclude that based on the failure of the security agencies to secure the people, therefore, the people have resorted to protecting themselves using every available means possible.
Describing the situation as unfortunate, Archbishop Ndagoso said government must make the effort of disarming the people and provide adequate security, warning that “unless this is done, people will continue to take every available means of protecting themselves against attack”.
Moreover, the archbishop argued that the society is militarised because the military and security agencies have also been politicised along ethnic and religious lines, asserting that “the soldiers sent to quell the riots take their pound of flesh using ethnic and religious sentiments in the areas they are sent to carry out operations”.
The archbishop said that the elections in Kaduna state “could best be described as free and fair” but however, observed that “the Federal Government, its relevant agencies and INEC can make amends so that the next elections might be better and continue to inspire the people’s confidence in democracy”.
He tasked politicians, who are the direct beneficiaries of the electoral process to conduct themselves in a more civilised manner, adding that they should avoid using violence in achieving their political ambitions.
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