ANAMBRA KILLINGS: OPC ASKS FG TO INVITE INTERPOL AND TO DECLARE NIGERIA A WAR ZONE

The Yoruba socio-cultural group, the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) has condemned Sunday’s killing of about 11 worshippers in Saint Philip’s Catholic Church at Ozubulu in Anambra State, demanding that those behind the coldblooded slaughter be immediately unearthed and brought to justice.

In a statement in Lagos yesterday by Founder and President of OPC, Dr. Frederick Fasehun, the group described the massacre as shameful and sacrilegious.

“The killing of these innocent worshippers is one incident too many,” he said. “Happening in that serene rural environment, it demeans all Nigerians. It shows that nowhere in this country is safe. There is total breakdown of law and order in Nigeria as a whole.”

He urged investigators to solicit the assistance of the International Police.

“Perpetrators must be speedily brought to book. If there is an international connection to this callousness, as Governor Willie Obiano and the Commissioner of Police have said, then the assistance of Interpol must be solicited in order to extradite those concerned back to Nigeria for investigation, prosecution and conviction.

OPC commiserated with the Ozubulu community and the families who lost their beloved in the dawn attack.

The organisation lamented that Nigerians lived in constant fear from assassins, kidnappers and insurgents.

“This country has now entered a state of anomie where life is short and brutish. Nowhere appears to be safe: Not Lagos, not Port Harcourt or Akure or Maiduguri or Jos,” OPC said. “If Nigeria is at war, let us know. Government may just as well declare the entire Nigeria a war zone.”

As far as OPC was concerned, the spate of killings was not only evidence of the palpable insecurity throughout the country but a failure of Intelligence.

“Nigeria has become unsafe for citizens and foreigners as well. Those in government appear to be playing politics with the matter of security. They are toying with Nigerian lives. There is too much insincerity. Instead of getting on with the job of providing security, authorities are making concerted effort to look good on paper, in the social media and in the mass media,” he said. “Government must call its security operatives to order. They must be proactive in their commitments and be honest to Nigerians.”

Fasehun stressed the need for Nigerian security agencies to be proactive in order to preempt and prevent the wanton killing of innocent citizens.

Furthermore, according to him, it was a shame that thousands of Nigerians, using hunger and insecurity as excuses, daily risked their lives in the desert and on the high seas, while attempting to cross into Europe.

Fasehun said: “Let us bear in mind the old saying, East or West, Home is best.”