Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) issues final warning to Boko Haram
Oritsejafor: Enough is enough
...I lost 70 parishioners –Archbishop
From Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, president, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), came a final warning yesterday to the Federal Government: the killings of hismembers by Boko Haram must stop now. He was reacting to last Sunday’s killings of 15 parishioners, including two professors, at Bayero University, Kano (BUK) worship centres. Scores were injured in the bombing and gunning down of the victims.
Pastor Oritsejafor’s warning followed the alarm raised by Archbishop, Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri, Borno State, Most Rev. Oliver Doeme, lamenting that the sect had killed over 70 parishioners. He said the Catholic faithful had become endangered species. The CAN president urged the Federal Government to stop the spateof attacks on churches in the North.
Issuing the final warning whileaddressing a Press conference yesterday at the National Ecumenical Centre, Abuja, Oritsejafor stressed that the association will not beable to guarantee a peaceful response from Christians should there be another attack on churches. According to him, millions of Christians inthe states affected by Boko Haram have become agitated and aggrieved, thereby making it difficult for CAN to guarantee any form of co-operation from its members should there be a fresh attack on churches.
He said: “As president of the Christian Association Nigeria, my first call to all peace-loving Nigerians is to remain calm in the face of all the insecurity challenges as I am aware that greater part of theoverall design is to instill fearin the populace.
“I will now make a final call- I repeat a final call, to the Nigerian government to clearly refine and neutralize the problem as other nations have done. The church leadership has hitherto put great restraint on aggrieved millions of Nigerians, but can no longer guarantee such co-operation if the trend of terror is not halted immediately”
Asked about what to expect should government fail to stop attacks on churches, Oristejafor said that CAN’s response will be in line with directives from God. “We will talk to God and He will tell us what to do”, he said. The CANpresident expressed displeasure on recent argument over the emergenceof Boko Haram, noting that theactions of the sect were purely based on radical Islamic ideology. He underscored the need to stopBoko Haram in its tracks rather than expend energy over whom or what is behind the sect.
He said: “The Nigerian and global communities witnessed the step by step, the escalation of violence in the country against innocent citizens with Christians and church suffering the greatest loss. We have persistently pleaded with the government to take courage and act to stop the surge of terror. “At this point in the unfolding insecurity challenges, it has become irrelevant whether the root cause is political, religious, ethnic or ideological.That is not is to say that we don’t know the origin or beginning of Boko Haram. It is basically a radical religious ideology.
“I am talking about ideas that people coined from the Quran.We cannot deny that Boko Haram members are Muslims. That is not to say there are no good, peace-loving Muslims in this country and wewill always desire to work withthem. But the truth must be told. When we keep running from the truth, we will never solve the problem. So, these ideas which are coined from the Quran are being used to terrorize the world and this isjust wrong.
“Something is wrong and those peace-loving Muslim religious leaders must be ableto work with us by helping to reach out to their people to so as to stop what is happening”, he added. Meanwhile, Archbishop Doeme said during a sermon at St Mary’s Catholic Church, Karu in Abuja, that most of the over 70 parishioners died through bombings, direct gunshots or selective elimination of Christians, adding that the Islamic militants have equally burnt down many of its churches.
“It is obvious that the CatholicChurch is facing severe persecution. The number of bomb blasts targeted at churches especially Catholic parishes, is becoming too much. As at last count, over 70 of my parishioners, mostly males, have been killed, our secondary schools and parishbuildings have been completely burnt down.
“There had been organised attacks on Christians. Only recently, a bomb exploded while a Reverend Father was sleeping and brought down the building, but no life was lost in that incident. As I speak to you, many of our parishioners have relocated to more secured states just because of the actions of the Boko Haram. Over seven of our churches have equally been razed down,” he lamented.
Omo see talk.
...I lost 70 parishioners –Archbishop
From Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, president, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), came a final warning yesterday to the Federal Government: the killings of hismembers by Boko Haram must stop now. He was reacting to last Sunday’s killings of 15 parishioners, including two professors, at Bayero University, Kano (BUK) worship centres. Scores were injured in the bombing and gunning down of the victims.
Pastor Oritsejafor’s warning followed the alarm raised by Archbishop, Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri, Borno State, Most Rev. Oliver Doeme, lamenting that the sect had killed over 70 parishioners. He said the Catholic faithful had become endangered species. The CAN president urged the Federal Government to stop the spateof attacks on churches in the North.
Issuing the final warning whileaddressing a Press conference yesterday at the National Ecumenical Centre, Abuja, Oritsejafor stressed that the association will not beable to guarantee a peaceful response from Christians should there be another attack on churches. According to him, millions of Christians inthe states affected by Boko Haram have become agitated and aggrieved, thereby making it difficult for CAN to guarantee any form of co-operation from its members should there be a fresh attack on churches.
He said: “As president of the Christian Association Nigeria, my first call to all peace-loving Nigerians is to remain calm in the face of all the insecurity challenges as I am aware that greater part of theoverall design is to instill fearin the populace.
“I will now make a final call- I repeat a final call, to the Nigerian government to clearly refine and neutralize the problem as other nations have done. The church leadership has hitherto put great restraint on aggrieved millions of Nigerians, but can no longer guarantee such co-operation if the trend of terror is not halted immediately”
Asked about what to expect should government fail to stop attacks on churches, Oristejafor said that CAN’s response will be in line with directives from God. “We will talk to God and He will tell us what to do”, he said. The CANpresident expressed displeasure on recent argument over the emergenceof Boko Haram, noting that theactions of the sect were purely based on radical Islamic ideology. He underscored the need to stopBoko Haram in its tracks rather than expend energy over whom or what is behind the sect.
He said: “The Nigerian and global communities witnessed the step by step, the escalation of violence in the country against innocent citizens with Christians and church suffering the greatest loss. We have persistently pleaded with the government to take courage and act to stop the surge of terror. “At this point in the unfolding insecurity challenges, it has become irrelevant whether the root cause is political, religious, ethnic or ideological.That is not is to say that we don’t know the origin or beginning of Boko Haram. It is basically a radical religious ideology.
“I am talking about ideas that people coined from the Quran.We cannot deny that Boko Haram members are Muslims. That is not to say there are no good, peace-loving Muslims in this country and wewill always desire to work withthem. But the truth must be told. When we keep running from the truth, we will never solve the problem. So, these ideas which are coined from the Quran are being used to terrorize the world and this isjust wrong.
“Something is wrong and those peace-loving Muslim religious leaders must be ableto work with us by helping to reach out to their people to so as to stop what is happening”, he added. Meanwhile, Archbishop Doeme said during a sermon at St Mary’s Catholic Church, Karu in Abuja, that most of the over 70 parishioners died through bombings, direct gunshots or selective elimination of Christians, adding that the Islamic militants have equally burnt down many of its churches.
“It is obvious that the CatholicChurch is facing severe persecution. The number of bomb blasts targeted at churches especially Catholic parishes, is becoming too much. As at last count, over 70 of my parishioners, mostly males, have been killed, our secondary schools and parishbuildings have been completely burnt down.
“There had been organised attacks on Christians. Only recently, a bomb exploded while a Reverend Father was sleeping and brought down the building, but no life was lost in that incident. As I speak to you, many of our parishioners have relocated to more secured states just because of the actions of the Boko Haram. Over seven of our churches have equally been razed down,” he lamented.
Omo see talk.
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