Don’t Use Executive Order to Witch-hunt Perceived Opponents, Anglican Church Tells Buhari

By Christopher Isiguzo in Enugu

The Enugu Diocese of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) at the weekend asked President Muhammadu Buhari not to use the recently signed Executive Order No. 6 of 2018 to witch-hunt perceived political opponents as the nation prepares for the 2019 elections.

The executive order empowers the federal government to seize suspicious assets connected with corruption and other relevant offences.

The synod also decried the hurried nature of the investigations and trial of five Christians over alleged killing of a herdsman by a Yola High Court and their conviction and called on President Buhari to ensure that the five condemned Christians are not executed.

The church expressed dismay that despite the Treasury Single Account
(TSA) by the federal government, there has not been prudence in expenditure of public funds, stressing that there was need to enthrone measures towards plugging the leakages and ensuring abatement of financial misappropriation.

On the power sector, the church noted the position of the government that power generation had risen to 7,000 megawatts, expressing dismay however that the development had not materialised into stable power supply.

It added that Nigerians has continued to grapple with epileptic power supply and attendant sufferings and called on the federal government to look into the development.

While underscoring the importance of education and poor budgetary allocation, the Synod urged the federal government to enthrone appropriate measures geared towards enhancement of education funding in order to meet UNESCO standard.

The Synod noted with dissatisfaction the rising spate of killings in the country such as in Plateau, southern Kaduna, Benue and Taraba States as well as last week’s killing of seven policemen in Abuja and called on the federal government to protect the citizenry.

It condemned the continued occupation in office of service chiefs, urging the president to overhaul the security architecture of the country to save lives and property.

The Synod further accused the federal government of treating herdsmen
menace with kids gloves, stressing that the development had emboldened
them to maim, kill and destroy property in the country.

“The Synod suspects a possibility of strange collaboration between the
herdsmen and the security agents, hence, the Synod calls for the
immediate overhaul of the current security architecture, to inject new
officers into the leadership of the military and police,” he said.

The Synod frowns on the alleged reduction in the amount budgeted for
some federal government projects in the South-east, especially the Akanu Ibiam International Airport and the second Niger Bridge project and called on the federal government to as a matter of urgency, put up a supplementary bill to return whatever that were removed.

The church also frowned on the continued detention of Miss Leah Sharibu after her mates abducted at Dapchi were released because of her
Christian faith and called on the federal government to ensure her release
without further delay.