The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has said that the call by state governments for citizens to get guns and defend themselves is not new.
It stated that the failure of the government to provide security had made the people conscious of the need to develop their private security plans long ago.
John Hayab, the CAN chairman, of Kaduna State Chapter, said this in an exclusive chat with Vanguard in Abuja on Monday, June 27, 2022.
He was reacting to the appeal of the Zamfara State Government for residents of the state to ‘obtain guns to defend themselves against terrorists attacking defenceless civilians in their domains.
He said CAN was not oblivious of the precarious security situation in the country, noting that the Zamfara government’s call was merely an alert for citizens to continue to act proactively.
Hayab said, “The call by Zamfara state Governor is not new to us. The Governor of Katsina State and others made a similar statement some months ago.
“Every day people are being killed from North to South, West and the East with no tangible arrests are being made. The killings going on unabated are serious.
“Bandits that should be running are now going from house to house, community to community, one region to another region no which is safe for now. They are cruel to their victims.
“CAN believes that it is now obligatory for Nigerians not to wait for our sleeping leaders to protect us because they do not care. Everybody, therefore, should act wisely and do what is right to defend himself, his family, his place of worship, and his community.
“What CAN and Nigerians want from the federal government and our governor of Zamfara state and his colleagues is they should be honest with us and not send the police after innocent people who are only having weapons for self-defence.”
