Restoration of death penalty in the judicial system for hardened criminals will help to stop banditry and terrorism, the Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria (MUSWEN), has declared.
The group, under the leadership of Alhaji Rasaki Oladejo, FCS, said death penalty and some other new and effective strategies would help to combat and put a stop to the problems of banditry, terrorism and incidents of mass killing.
The group made the call in a press release by its media consultant, Femi Abbas, in reaction to the killings perpetrated by some gunmen at the St Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, on Sunday.
It said the demonic killings at Owo signaled a new climax of tragedy in the country, adding that it was beyond mere lamentations, condemnations or commiseration, as it was one tragedy too agonizing to bear.
MUSWEN stated in the release that, apart from death penalty, the Federal Goverment needed to take some proactive measures for the purpose of solid and effective security across the land.
The group said new strategies must be urgently adopted, in a situation where a country combines the incidents of banditry with those of terrorism, and still keeps recording mass murder of innocent citizens, incessantly, by terrorists and bandits.
It said, “understanding what human lives mean to the Supreme Creator and, knowing the implications of terminating those lives criminally”, some other measures should be considered and enforced.
Apart from restoring death penalty, MUSWEN admonished the government to enact an effective law with which to criminalize the carriage and wielding of guns or any other dangerous weapon in public without adequate authoritative licensing.
Along with the restoration of death penalty, the group called for regulation and control of the freedom of Nigerian uniformed security personnel in using weapons, unnecessarily, in civil areas of the society.
It advised the government to criminalize illicit films, on the social media, “to wean up growing kids and lasses from the ladle of satanic machinations.”
The group also called for the re-orientation human rights activists who, it alleged, invariably operate with the tendency to protect criminals, rather than innocent citizens.
It advocated the establishment of state and local government police for the purpose of maintaining law and order as well as that of settling rural crises which are capable of engendering societal disturbances.
The group further said: “No one is empowered to audaciously terminate the life or lives of other citizens without paying maximally for it.
“Nigerians had experienced similar occurrences in many of her regions and states with little or no effective reactions that could put a final stop to it.”
MUSWEN said mere expression of sorrow and sympathy without any commensurate penalty to ensure bringing perpetrators of killings and other criminal acts to book is a sheer meaningless pity.
“If all these are genuinely and effectively backed up with enforceable laws, the rate of crimes in Nigeria will surely be reduced to the barest minimum,” it said.
The group said, while no amount of condolences can bring the massacred people back to life, it, nevertheless, prayed for the repose of the souls of those murdered callously in the tragedy.
It also prayed for Allah’s adequate fortitude to enable the relatives of those killed in the Owo Church Attack to continue to cope with life after their demise.
“Finally, MUSWEN calls on all religious bodies to specifically pray for a formidable protection for our country and her citizens against the crushing claws of satanic forces,” the group added in the release.
