Fish Out Those Behind Destruction of Borno Church, Middle Belt Forum Tasks Zulum
BY SEGUN ADEBAYO, ABUJA – The Middle Belt Forum (MBF) at the weekend called on Governor Babagana Umara Zulum to bring to book those who spearheaded the destruction of a church belonging to ‘Ekilisiya Yan’uwa a Nigeria’, popularly known as ‘The Brethren in Nigeria’ (EYN), during last Thursday violence that led to the killing of a Nigerian citizen, Ezekiel Bitrus, by men of the Borno Geographical Information System (BOGIS).
In a press statement signed on Sunday by the National Publicity Secretary of the Forum, Dr. Isuwa Dogo, and made available to our reporter, “The Forum is shocked that the demolition of the Church was done without recourse to due process. That the demolition instantly caused outrage that led to the killing of a citizen by the security operatives demonstrates the arrogance of some of our security personnel in violating the rights of citizens to peaceful protest.
“As the umbrella organisation for all ethnic nationalities in the Middle Belt Region, the Forum is concerned with growing religious intolerance that seems to have the support of some bad elements in the corridor of power. We deplore such an attitude and call on the Borno State Government to checkmate those determined to foster a culture of religious discrimination.”
Calling on the Borno State Government not to spare any efforts to stave off further violent reaction on the matter, the MBF called on Governor Zulum to “stop forthwith all overt and covert attempts to deny Nigerians the right to freedom of religion and end further destruction of worship centres without recourse to due process.
“The Borno State Government should call BOGIS to order to forestall a recurrence of unjust demolition of churches. Demolishing worship centres without following the due process is an inexcusable act of illegality. Killing a citizen in the process of carrying out such an act of illegality is a tragedy of a monumental proportion.
“As enshrined in the nation’s constitution, Nigerians have religious freedoms, including the right to build and assemble in worship centres. When this right is violated and worship centres pulled down with no prior notice, then, such rights are deemed to suffer from assaults.
“We are aware that the demolition of the EYN Church is the fourth since the emergence of Governor Zulum in 2015. If nothing is done to stop this trend, the prospects of peace along religious inclinations may suffer irretrievably. We call on the governor to rein in the illegal activities of BOGIS whose activities are creating widening gulf and threatening peaceful co-existence of citizens.”
Calling on Governor Zulum to thoroughly investigate the tragic incident, the Forum maintained that those “who demolished the EYN Church should be fished out and brought to justice. Governor Zulum should honour his promise to dispassionately look into the issue in order to compensate victims and redress the circumstances that led to the destruction of the EYN Church.”
