President Muhammadu Buhari has decried the recent spate of attacks targeting churches across the country. Mr. President described the worrisome development as unacceptable promising that perpetrators of these dastardly acts will not go unpunished. In a statement signed on Wednesday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President stressed that from the tragedy in Owo two weeks ago that shook the nation to its core, to the killings and kidnappings, last weekend, in Kaduna State, it was clear that there was a design by wicked people to put the country under religious stress.
“From the tragedy in Owo two weeks ago that shook our nation to its core, to the killings and kidnappings just this weekend in Kaduna State, it is clear that there is a design by wicked people to put the country under religious stress,” he said.
According to President Buhari religious freedom and diversity is what makes Nigeria great. He said it is this diversity that gives Nigeria its strength, adding that same is the reason why Nigeria’s enemies seek to destroy it, by pitching fellow Nigerians against each other.
“We will not let them. The nation will not be distracted or divided by these obviously planned and politically motivated criminal outrages.”
“As for the cowards, they will be published for their crimes. We will bring them to justice. Rest assured that the full might of Nigeria’s formidable security and intelligence forces are involved in that endeavour.
The president urged all Nigerians to come together in prayer, whether Christian, Muslim or any of our great faiths, while encouraging that families of the victims be remembered.
“Let us show the cowards, who seek to divide us along religious lines that we will not be divided. Let us show them that Nigerians will continue to cherish what we share while respecting each other’s difference. Let us show them that Nigerians will never be bullied by cowards, extremists or terrorists,”
