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Religious leaders from the South-East and South-South have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the present service chiefs. They condemned the “pampering” of repentant Boko Haram terrorists, incessant killing of citizens and rape of women/girls by armed herdsmen across the country.

NAN reports that these were contained in a communique issued in Umuahia, Abia State, after a colloquium on insecurity in Nigeria convened by Bishop Sunday Onuoha. It was signed by representatives of the Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (South-South), Archbishop Israel Eniyekemini, and his South-East counterpart, Bishop Goddy Okafor. The clerics expressed concern over insurgency, banditry, destruction of lives and property and urged the federal government to seek help of the international community in tackling terrorism. They called on the improvement on intelligence gathering and deployment of modern technology to track and monitor the operations of the insurgents. There is urgent need to sincerely rejig and decentralise Nigerian security arrangement for efficiency,” the communique stated. The meeting expressed support for the recent regional security arrangement in the Southwest (Amotekun) to further secure their borders and communities. It further berated the “porosity” of the nation’s borders and called for vigilance in view of the visa-on-arrival policy. The religious leaders declared their anger about the release of rehabilitated terrorists back to the society. We are deeply worried why government should be pampering such killer terrorists, who have not in any way justified their action against Nigerians. This development is not only worrisome but demoralises the morale of gallant soldiers,” the clerics stressed. Many Nigerians, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, have raised alarm over the state of the nation.