Insecurity: CAN Blasts El-Rufai’s Shut Down Of Telecommunication Network
The Kaduna State branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has expressed concern that the closure of telecommunication services in some parts of the state has exacerbated the insecurity situation.
He added that the telecommunications network being down allowed criminals to have a field day on Sunday, killing one person and kidnapping over 100 Baptist Church members.
Rev. John Joseph Hayab, the Chairman of Kaduna CAN, expressed dismay that the security situation continues to deteriorate, despite the state government’s assurances that it is on top of the matter while citizens are being victimized on a daily basis.
Rev. Hayab noted that the state’s insecurity reached a nadir on Sunday when bandits stormed Emmanuel Baptist Church during a service, killing one person and abducting over 100 others, while others suffered serious injuries, without any security presence in the area, attributing the kidnappings to the telecommunication network’s outage.
Hayab explained, “We are seriously worried now. Gunmen are gradually approaching the township. Emmanuel Baptist Church, which is in Kakau Daji, is just less than three kilometres to Sabon Tashan, yet the kidnappers operated at will without any resistance.”
He added that the truth of the telecommunications network shutdown is that those who make policies are not fair to citizens, and that the government is relying on trial and error, which has failed to reduce insecurity in the state.
A victim’s family told Kaduna CAN that the kidnappers told them they had to pay a higher ransom since the gunmen had to walk the extra mile for network coverage before grabbing the victims’ relatives.
He went on to say that the abducted church worshipers would have called out on Sunday to aid their rescue and alert the public to their plight, but they were unable to do so, bemoaning that the telecom network’s outage aided the bandits in their illegal actions.
He suggested that until the state takes necessary measures to combat insecurity, security concerns will grow and residents will continue to suffer at the hands of kidnappers.
