The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has declared a three days prayer session for God’s intervention in order to put an end to the shedding of innocent blood in Nigeria.
It called on Nigerians to join in the prayer which would hold from May 28 to May 30, 2021.
The group announced the prayer session on Sunday in a statement issued by its national secretary, Mr. Daramola Bade Joseph.
“We call on all Nigerians to join us in CAN on May 28-30 to pray to God in the attitude of mourning and soberness for the unprecedented shedding of innocent blood in our nation and to pray to God for his quick intervention in our situation so that normalcy might return. We pray that evil will not overcome us in Nigeria and that Nigeria shall overcome all her challenges in Jesus’ name,” the group said.
The group which is organising the prayer against the backdrop of the death of the nation’s Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru and other officers commiserated with President Muhammadu Buhari, military high command, security chiefs, and the immediate and extended families of victims of the air crash.
“While our hearts are filled with sorrow for the supreme price they paid, we acknowledge with sense of gratitude to them, their selfless services to all of us in the nation. They laid down their lives in order to keep our nation safe and secure from the aggression of terrorists, bandits and other criminal elements in our nation. We pray for Your Excellency and all the families affected by their painful exit, fortitude and comfort of the Holy Spirit to bear the loss. We pray that this type of national tragedy will never occur again,” CAN said in a statement.
The Christian group called for a thorough investigation into the crash.
Said the group: “According to reports, Nigeria had four King Air 350 named NAF 201, NAF 202, NAF 203 and NAF 204. Sometimes in February this year, NAF 201 crashed in Abuja and killed all the eight Air Force crew men on board. We also reliably learnt that this was the third military air disaster in the space of three months.
“If these reports are true, then it is high time thorough investigations are carried out with a view to ascertaining the immediate and remote causes of these recurrent disasters and address the causes decisively and squarely. We cannot continue to lose our finest military and security officers to air disasters without treating the situation as a national emergency.
“CAN is genuinely concerned and suggests that while the nation still awaits the report of the cause or causes of this latest crash, adequate measures should be taken so as to avert this kind of tragedy both in our military and civil aviation in the future. We must ascertain that all military aircrafts are fit to fly and that the training of the flight officers is excellent. We further plead that adequate care should be taken of the dependants of the deceased so that they might be proud eternally of the nation the deceased served.”
CAN also called on the international community to come to the aid of Nigeria to end the menace of insecurity occasioned by criminals manifesting as kidnappers, bandits and terrorists.
