A clergyman and General Overseer of Intercessors Bible Mission (IBM) in Calabar, Cross River State, Archbishop Archibong Archibong, has said that the country and its leadership have taken the young people for granted, for too long.
Speaking to newsmen in Calabar, Archibong said there was an assumption that the youths did not just exist and that the young people have just made a statement that they are there, “As far as they are concerned, society is against their future, the government and the older people are out to destroy their destiny. The decay that has taken place, the lack of empathy, the suffering they undergo could force them to react destructively.
“If you look at Cross River State for instance, nobody would have believed that such carnage could have been inflicted on the state, our leaders should create a chance for young people to assert themselves. We need to do something very fast about this situation and deliberately initiate steps to accommodate them; after all, the country belongs to them.”
The man of God said he had, during meetings with pastors, appealed to them to preach to their members to return whatever they looted, but called on the authorities not to contemplate criminalising any youth as he believed that at that hour of madness, the youths who participated in the destruction were controlled by another spirit.
“We agree that what they did was wrong, but then we must learn a lesson from it. Let us collectively appeal to those who looted property to return them. Look at it this way, how do you take something you won’t even use? Some of them got involved because they saw others doing it”.

Friday Nwagbara, Calabar.