MBF condemns demolition of church in Borno, demands for justice

0
307

The Middle Belt Forum (MBF) has urged the Borno State government to fish out those who killed Ezekiel Bitrus and demolished a church- Ekilisiya Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN) to justice.
In statement, spokesman of the forum, Dr. Isuwa Dogo called on Governor Babagana Zulum to 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 Church.
On Thursday last week, officials of the Borno Geographical Information System (BOGIS), pulled down the church located in Maiduguri, the state capital.
The demolition led to protests which resulted in the killing of 29 years old Ezikiel Bitrus, allegedly by a personnel of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), attached to the BOGIS.
The MBF said the demolition of the EYN also known as “The Brethren in Nigeria” is the fourth church to be destroyed under the administration of Zulum.
The forum expressed shocked that the demolition of the church was done without recourse to due process.
The statement said “the demolition of the church which resulted in the outrage that led to the killing of a citizen by the security operatives, demonstrates arrogance of some security personnel in violating the rights of citizens to peaceful protest.”
The MBF condemned such an attitude and call on the Borno State government to checkmate those determined to foster a culture of religious discrimination in the state.
“The forum welcomes timely the intervention of the state government in staving off further reaction on the matter.
”We call on the state government 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.
“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” the MBF said.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here