The chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in northern region, Joseph Hayab, has faulted security agencies over their “denial” of the abduction of scores of persons in Kaduna.
Hayab spoke on Wednesday, hours after the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) confirmed the kidnapping of the worshippers.
“The manner the police commissioner and other security agencies came out to outrightly say that this thing did not happen to me it’s a total disappointment, a total failure, and it’s just increased the lack of trust that exists between the people and those who are securing them,” Hayab said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
Reports about the abduction of worshippers in Kurmin Wali community of Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna made headlines on Sunday. Over 100 persons were said to have been kidnapped in the attacks.
The Kaduna state government and security agencies had initially said the incident did not happen, but the spokesman of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Benjamin Hundeyin, days later, confirmed the mass abduction.
Hundeyin in a statement late Tuesday, said, “verification from operational units and intelligence sources has confirmed that the incident did occur”.
He said the Kaduna Police Command’s comment over the incident was “intended to prevent unnecessary panic while facts were being confirmed.
“Those remarks, which have since been widely misinterpreted, were not a denial of the incident but a measured response pending confirmation of details from the field, including the identities and number of those affected”.
But the CAN chairman believes the denials have slowed down rescue operations.
“Look at the time they were using in denial. That time they’re supposed to be using for pursuing the bandits, but they chose to allow the bandits to have gone far before they are coming to acknowledge that the information we give them is true and remain true,” the cleric said.
The abduction is the latest in a series of mass kidnapping in Nigeria especially in the country’s northern region.
