The Seventh-Day Adventist Church Church North East Nigeria Conference has charged government to put aside all forms of ethnic and religious sentiments in dealing with the miscreants of death that are threatening the collective existence of Nigeria.
The religious body hinted that God is neither a religious or ethnic champion and does not condone criminality in any form whether ethnic oppression, ethnic cleansing or mass murder.
“A killer is a Criminal” the church said.

The religious body said the recent, unfortunate and unabated killings were avoidable.
It said the actions of the criminal elements which led to the killings, destruction of thousands of hectares of farmlands and burning of houses had rendered over Twenty Thousand (2,000) persons homeless.

It also frowned at the barbaric attack on a convey comprising of five buses at Rukuba Road in Jos North LGA which led to the killings of scores while other sustained various degree of injuries.
The Religious body said the avoidable incidents escalated insecurity and led to subsequent reprisals around Bauchi Junction, Bauchi Road, Yan Trailer, Odus and other flash points in Jos North LGA.

The President of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church North East Nigeria Conference, Pastor Joshua Mallum made these disclosures at a Press Briefing today.

Pastor Joshua said the Church will continue to hold the teaching of the Holy Bible which upholds the sanctity and sacredness of human life.
He posited that the Church is troubled as the holy and universal creed on human life is losing its meaning in Plateau State and most part of Nigeria, a complete departure from the Biblical teaching in Exodus 20:13 which states that “thou shall not kill” which has also be reinforced in Section 33 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and by many constitutions of civilized Countries across the World.
He said the church condemns in strong terms perpetuators of these killings for whatsoever reasons; be it political, religious, ethnic, social, economic, or reprisal saying God alone has the right and power to give and take life as contained in Deuteronomy 32:39.

The church is demanding for justice to be done, and stressed that it should be seen to be done to all parties involved, devoid of double standards or selective justice on the part of the authorities.

It also said all human beings were made by God, therefore taking life is a crime to humanity that has no ethnic or religious justification calling on government and security agencies to ensure that perpetuators and sponsors of all killings of Irigwe, Riyom, Rukuba Road and other reprisal killings are confronted, arrested, prosecuted and punished irrespective of religion, creed or ethnicity in line with the law of the land to serve as deterrent to others.

Pastor Joshua admonished respected religious, community and traditional leaders to mind their utterances and guard against inciting speeches. He said Journalists as partners in governance should be circumspect in their reportage, ensure they carry out proper investigative journalism before reporting any incident and adhere strictly to the ethics of the profession especially in sensitive times like these.

“The Seventh-Day Adventist Church is therefore calling on all well-meaning Nigerians to intensify efforts toward ending the cycle of senseless killings, reprisals and counter-reprisals that have become quite notorious and vicious in our Country. It is ungodly, unreasonable, unjustifiable, undemocratic and unacceptable. Remember the words of Mahatma Gandhi: ‘An eye for an eye will leave the whole World blind’. It is enough, let us put an end to the vicious cycle”

“You must remember that when you face God on the Day of judgment, there will be no excuse; you will answer for every soul, whose death you were responsible” the religious body said.

The religious body urged the general public to be security conscious and alert all the times in order not to be taken unawares.

It said it is working to take humanitarian intervention to those affected in Miango Bassa LGA on account of the humanitarian crisis they are being faced with.

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“Don’t Attach Sentiments in Dealing With Criminals” – Seventh-Day Adventist Church