Dear Tinubu, declare state of emergency on security – PFN charges

The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, has urged the President Bola Tinubu-led government to declare a state of emergency on security.

The Christian organisation lamented the lingering banditry and kidnappings ravaging the nation.

Fielding questions from newsmen on Thursday, President of the Fellowship, Bishop Wale Oke, while urging Tinubu not to treat the issues of insecurity with kid gloves, further appealed to Nigerians to bury their hatchets and join hands with the president as he cannot solve the problem alone.

He said, “Be president indeed. You are a seasoned politician, and you know Nigeria like a man knows the back of his hand. Nigerians are in pain. The blood of innocent people is everywhere. In Plateau state, in Benue state, in Kaduna state, in Ekiti state, and everywhere.

“Mr. President, please declare a state of emergency on insecurity in Nigeria and use your executive power as the Commander-in-Chief to compel Nigerian forces to crush insecurity and create a safe Nigeria that is peaceful.

“We learned from a group of people on social media threatening that because the election didn’t go their way, they were going to make Nigeria ungovernable. This is illegal; the people issuing the threat are criminals and should not be treated with kid gloves. The president should put his feet down and crush these rebellions against the authority of Mr. President and against the people of Nigeria. Because we are now carrying it beyond banditry and insurgency, it has become a matter of treasonable felony.”

He added, “I want to assure you of the firm cooperation of over 65 million Pentecostals in Nigeria who will cooperate with you, pray for you, and give you the necessary information that will make you a success.

Food insecurity
The body urged the federal government to open the borders but to be “conscious of security,” saying, “Nigerians are hungry, and prices of food are escalating every day.”

“What Nigerians earn is not sufficient to fuel their cars, tankless of food. We need Mr. President to work on the economy and provide a solution urgently. We believe Nigeria has no problem with hunger if things are done well. If you do, this future generation of Nigeria will call you blessed.

“We should open the border so that food items can come in, but with proper security checks because it has been reported that most people involved in banditry are foreigners, particularly from the Sahel region. So the border should be open in a regulated manner.”

Speaking on TB Joshua BBC’s report, PFN said, “TB Joshua was never a member of PFN and never identified with PFN; the PFN does not condone anything outside scripture; we stand by the righteousness and perfection of the word of God. Only God knows the truth about the TB Joshua story, even though there are people we came out to testify.”