The Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for Northern Nigeria, Reverend Joseph John Hayab, recently expressed his disappointment in how the news of the kidnapping of 177 worshippers in Kurmin Wali in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State, by bandits, was handled by Nigerian authorities. In this interview by SAM NWAOKO, Hayab tells how he felt about the confusion in the reportage of the incident, what he thinks about the incident itself and how the Nigerian government can curb the menace of terrorism and persecution of Christians in Nigeria.

What was your initial reaction to the denial by the officials of government and security agencies that there was a kidnapping incident in Kurmin Wali in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State?

The truth is that their denial was one of the funniest as well as surprising things I have heard about such incidents in our country in a long time. It was like a movie, like a drama playing out before me, which topic or title I just couldn’t understand. I say this because I got wind of the incident soon after it came up. I got wind of it and did not talk about it until after 24 hours. And from the period I got wind of the matter up until the time they came out to deny it, I couldn’t believe it because I was following up on it. I was on the telephone making consistent calls to the community to know what happened and to know what exactly was going on. I was on it till we got the exact number of people that were taken, and all through that period, nobody said that the incident did not happen. Nobody said it was not true. So, why the sudden change in the narrative?

The local government chairman went there in the morning to find out what happened. He left and promised to return to the community only to go to town to say that the something did not happen. That was why I said it was the funniest drama of the century. That is the way I view it because it was like a drama.

That incident happened in the morning. I was told about it in the afternoon. I got to know via a text message, it was not that I was called on the telephone to be told about it. I have about seven messages on the same incident and each one was from different persons who were trying to give updates on the earlier information about the incident. That is the way we work. None of them said that the incident didn’t take place. So how on earth can someone now come to tell me that the incident didn’t happen?

One of the people I got my information from is a representative of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the area. We have been working with the person for upwards of 10 years. I have been meeting with the person in the course of my work as a CAN official for a long time. The last thing such a person would do was to call me to tell me a lie, especially about an incident of that magnitude. That is why I felt that it was a drama on the part of the government officials.

I pitied my country that time, although I was a little bit disturbed but I also had some laugh as a human being because I wondered why our country can go that cheap and that low.

Now that you have been vindicated, what has been the actions taken…?

The issue of vindication is even secondary. Our concern is not as much about vindication as about understanding the lies. An Editor of one of the famous Nigerian daily newspapers, probably out of coercion or something else, wrote that Christian Association of Nigeria lied. I simply couldn’t understand it! These are the kinds of problems we have in Nigeria, and that is why, most of the times the problems in our country are caused by elites, and not the nobodies. If an Editor of a newspaper can boldly put a headline: “CAN Lied” in a sensitive matter like that, it is disturbing. Now that it has been seen that CAN did not lie, the editor is not man enough to apologise or say “CAN Vindicated”. That was not good enough and it is sad that that is how low Nigeria has sunk.

When those who are to defend Nigeria are hungry and starved, to defend Nigeria will be a tough task indeed. It is a lesson I have learnt in this matter. When I thought about it, I could only laugh.

Now that the police have recanted after saying there was no such incident, what steps would you say they have taken in rescuing the abducted people?

When the police accepted the truth, they promised to do something and we want to trust them to do something. We are humans and we should learn to give one another the benefit of the doubt. I love the position of the Inspector-General of Police. I love the way he took up the matter and said let’s address it at the national level. I believe that actions are being taken. I have also been talking with the Kaduna State Police Command and they are also taking action, thinking and behaving right. They did realise what they did. First they went out to say what was not right and they later saw that I was involved, and they know that I would rather not talk than to say things I do not know. They said they didn’t feel right about what happened and they have promised that they would go all out to correct it. And I am happy that it has been corrected.

Kurmin Wali is a predominantly Christian community. Would you say that this attack has come as a vindication of President Donald Trump’s allegation that Christians in Nigeria face existential threat?

I don’t want us to politicise this incident in any way. We have been facing a lot of persecution even before Trump said what he said. I don’t want to dwell on the things President Trump said but Christians in Northern Nigeria know what is going on. But truly speaking, those who have not seen to our cry about persecution have now seen what we suffer among so many things.

Don’t also forget that these people are deliberately attacking us to provoke anger, to cause confusion in the land and make certain demands that they deem fit because they know that if it were Christians there would be reactions left and right and all over. One of the reasons why this incident is making this kind of headlines is because we have not taken decisive action against those disturbing and tormenting people and causing havoc on citizens. Whatever name you call, Christians or whatever, whoever inflicts pains on the citizens of your country, let that person know that you have a government.

How many victims are still in captivity and what is the latest about the incident?

The bandits have made a call to know who they will be talking to. So all efforts are towards ensuring that the security agencies do their job. We will also play our role. (Saturday Tribune, but headline rejigged)

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