The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Niger State Chapter, has appealed to the Federal Government to reduce fuel price and regulate the prices of food items even as they urged Christian faithful to pray more to overcome the prevailing challenges facing the country.
The Niger State Chairman of CAN, Most Reverend Bulus Yohanna, who made this known in Minna on Sunday July 29th said “Let us shun protest. Violence has never yielded positive results but peace can easily turn things around. As you are aware, there are plans to stage a nationwide protest across the country but as Children of God and responsible people known for peace, I urge us all to shun the protest but speak to our children/wards and members of our congregation.
“Peaceful protest with clear demands is good but such could be hijacked by miscreants, who can lead to arrests/shootings and we cannot afford to lose any of our children. There is no time that violence had led to positive results, rather it has caused destructions, loss of lives and setbacks. Genuine protest can easily be seized by hoodlums and selfish groups to cause enormous havoc on innocent citizens and this is why we should avoid the protest.”
The CAN chairman who is also the Catholic Bishop of Kontagora Diocese called on “President Bola Tinubu to apart from the palliatives, reduce the pump price on petrol and regulate prices of food items adding that this will certainly address the rising cost of living and bring smiles to the faces of Nigerians.
The Cleric called on people of the state to take advantage of the farming season especially now that the Governor is proactive and has prioritized the Agriculture sector with the hope of feeding the nation.
In the same vain, former Chairman of CAN in Kaduna State, Rev John Hayab, has called on Nigerians to shun actions that could disrupt Nigeria’s Progress, insisting that though protest is legitimate, the Nigerian constitution provides freedom of expression but not destruction.
In a statement issued at the weekend, Hayab explained that there is no guarantee that the planned nationwide protest will not attract violence against innocent citizens in the wake of the growing tension in the country.
He said “While I stand with the Nigerian populace to call for better governance, my honest opinion is that a protest could destabilise the Nigerian social order or even set the nation ablaze, given the penchant for some Nigerians to resort to divisive tendencies whenever a matter of national concern arises.
From every available record, for instance, the recently released Multidimensional Poverty Index by the National Bureau of Statistics, Ondo and Lagos have the lowest poverty rates in Nigeria. So, suppose the protest is about fighting poverty. Why are the mobilisers not more concerned about areas with a high poverty index, such as Zamfara, Yobe, Lafia, the capital of Nassarawa State, Abakaliki in Ebonyi, Lokoja in Kogi, and Yobe states, indicatively with much worse poverty conditions?
The worry is that the protest might not indeed be about poverty and hardship but likely about scoring a political card that gives the impression that there is more than what the eyes can see about the call for protest.”
