By Kamsi Anayo, Awka
Anambra Women of the Anglican Communion, have decried the spate of killings in the country, asking the President, Muhammadu Buhari, to prove to Nigerians that the bloodletting is not an ominous sign for ethnic cleansing.
They said insecurity, strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU), hunger were major problems tormenting women and others all over the country.
These were contained in an address presented at the 2022 Diocese on the Niger Women’s Conference by its President, Dr Nonyelum Nwokolo.
The 108-page document presented by the women contained their worries on the level of bloodshed in the country, noting that almost every community in the country was under siege.
They said, “As a result of the intensity and frequency of the killings going on all over Nigeria, the concerned women of this diocese passionately appeal to the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently devise feasible ways to end the attacks on innocent people of Nigeria.
“The President should do this with concrete evidence at least to allay the fears of many Nigerians and the international community, proving them wrong that the killings are neither ethnic cleansing, ‘islamization’ nor ‘fulanisation’ hidden agenda of the government.”
The women noted that despite vast areas of fertile soil in the country with willing, able and available farmers, there was still no food for the people as majority die daily of hunger and starvation because.
“ Farmlands all over the country today lie waste, uncultivated. Farmers no longer go to farms because killer Fulani herdsmen have taken over the farmlands, chasing away farmers.” The lamented
They enjoined the Federal Government to take necessary actions to checkmate the trend, which the women described as “gradually becoming a national calamity”, adding that farmers and farmlands should be duly protected in order to secure food for the people.
The Anglican women pleaded with politicians, political parties and supporters in the 2023 general elections to be guided by patriotism, enjoining them to avoid selfishness as well as respect rules of politics, while asking political parties to take the time to educate their supporters, encourage them to obtain their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) to vote according to their consciences in the polls.
They added,”We, the women of this Diocese, want to register our displeasure over the lingering ASUU-Federal Government face-off. Apart from the ongoing strike, we have had series of the same experience in the past and the effects have never been anything good.
“The Federal Government should listen to the demands of the university teachers and do the needful, while the striking teachers should consider shifting their present ground for the interest of the students because when two elephants fight, the grass suffer”.
