*Christians, Muslims must unite against terrorism, insecurity – Fr Cornelius Omonokhua
*Says, ‘No terrorist can be a religious person and no religious person can be a terrorist’
By BASHIR ADEFAKA
“We have to be careful in the way we handle, say and do things as religious leaders, we are not political leaders, therefore we have to be weary of what we say, where and how we say such things because our followers will definitely believe in what we say, they will believe and feel that it is from the Holy Qu’ran or the Holy Bible. We cannot go on telling things to people without thinking that they will believe, we cannot go on saying things that we know we don’t have full knowledge of.”
The military, other agencies involved in the security intelligence have been called upon to speed up their effort, undeterred, by ensuring that attempt by terrorists to show relevance in parts of the country particularly in the North West, currently, is thwarted.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, said this as the 4th Quarter 2021 Meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) held on Friday 10 December 2021, saying there was no need for both Muslims and Christians to lock up their places of worship because of yet to-be-verified threat supposedly coming from some criminal elements but that security agencies must enforce the law to enable them enjoy their rights to religious worship by providing adequate security for them.
Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar, earlier at the council’s meeting held on Thursday in Abuja, themed “NIREC, Security Agencies and Peace in Nigeria”, had lamented that terrorists kill people on a daily basis in the Northern part of the country especially in the North West and that the killings are mostly not reported. He cautioned religious leaders to watch what they say with their tongues to avoid situation where insecurity that can be ended easily, if both Christians and Muslims are united in prayers and support behind the security prosecution of war against the menace, unnecessarily drags.
He, however, challenged the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), who singled out Christians as only victims of insecurity in the North to prove their claims, although there has been no proof being that, available records continue to show Muslims as the most affected by the criminal activities of the terrorists, either in the time of Boko Haram in the North East or of bandits in the North West until they were recently declared terrorists by a competent of court in Abuja, on effort of the Federal Government.
The DEFENDER’s several reports in the past had shown CAN as being behind misinformation former United States President Donald Trump acted upon and because of which he included Nigeria on the watch list of religious violations countries. It has been the believe of CAN that President Muhammadu Buhari, being a Fulani man, allowed the killing of Christians and persecution of the churches in Northern Nigeria, leading why Trump asked President Buhari on visit to Washington: “Why are you killing Christians in Nigeria?”
It will be recalled that CAN had issued a report during the Coronavirus lockdown that was a global measure to fight the pandemic, publicly blaming it on Buhari’s government as effort to kill Christians and persecute church in Nigeria. This stance by an organization believed to be Christianity’s apex body in the country had not gone down well with other Nigerians including fellow Christians, who wondered why a pandemic that was global and Boko Haram terrorism that had killed, largely, Muslims, were being blamed on government as plot to kill Christians in Nigeria.
The Pastor Samson Ayokunle-led religious group incurred the wrath of many, when following removal of Nigeria from the America’s watch list, it sparked condemning America, now under President Joe Biden, and rejecting its delisting of Nigeria from the list.
Speaking Thursday in Abuja, during the 4th Quarter 2021 Meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) with the theme, “NIREC, Security Agencies and Peace in Nigeria”, the Sultan, who is also the co-Chairman of NIREC, said there is no single day that passes without people being killed in the North.
He called on Christians to disregard the recent threat by some unknown persons of being killed if found attending churches in Zamfara State, adding that Nigeria has series of challenges facing it and if leaders don’t wake up and come together to understand the issues facing the country, the challenges will escalate.
He, however, charged religious leaders to be weary of the kind of things they say to their followers, noting that their followers always believe that they speak things from the Holy Bible and Holy Qur’an.
While advocating for dialogue to address some of the challenges in the country, Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar said the elites in the country have been the major problems the nation is facing.
He said: “If I continue talking about the insecurity in the North, we will not leave this room. Some few days ago, we are witnesses to the media report on how people were killed in a bus in Sokoto. Even though the figure is not correct, even one life is important. There is no single day that passes without people being killed in the North, especially in the North West, but we don’t hear it.
“When I saw a note that the bandits are threatening Christians in Zamfara, I asked, what is the work of our security agencies? Why will they come out and make such comment, when you have not verified it, because you are making people to be more frightened.
“I will not stop going to mosque to pray because I saw in a paper that if I go to mosque I will be killed, let me be killed, I must die, so Christians should not be afraid of going to church to worship because an anonymous person is threatening them,” the Sultan said publicly at the meeting attended by both Muslims and Christians in Abuja.
He added: “Let’s not deceive ourselves, everything is not alright, I have said this so many times, and to know that you have a problem, you have part of the solution. The earlier we rise up to the occasion, come together, the better for us.
“We have to be careful in the way we handle, say and do things as religious leaders, we are not political leaders, therefore we have to be weary of what we say, where and how we say such things because our followers will definitely believe in what we say, they will believe and feel that it is from the Holy Qu’ran or the Holy Bible.
“We cannot go on telling things to people without thinking that they will believe, we cannot go on saying things that we know we don’t have full knowledge of.
“I believe in dialogue, and l believe dialogue is the best option, we sit down and talk ourselves and come up with possible solutions to the problems of the majority. We are the minority here. We are the elites and the elites are the problems of this country because, we always want things to go our way.”
In the past
Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has always risen to the challenge posed by misinformation given by some religious leaders against true situation of the state of insecurity in Nigeria like it is in countries globally as the world stands today.
Part of this, it will be recalled, was published in the media on 12 March, 2020 when he had refuted claims by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and other Christian religious leaders that Christians in Nigeria, particularly in the north, were being persecuted and denied certain privileges because of faith.
The Sultan spoke in response to the prayer protests by CAN and Catholic Bishops against what they perceived as a deliberate campaign by state and non-state actors to eliminate Christians in northern Nigeria.
Speaking at the first quarterly meeting of the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) meeting in Abuja, on Thursday 12 March, 2020, the Sultan expressed concern on the level of sincerity and commitment by members of NIREC to religious peace and tolerance in Nigeria.
“It pains me when we gather at NIREC or other meetings and agree on measures that would promote religious peace, unity and tolerance; but shortly after, you will begin to hear stories of persecution here and there,” the Sultan remarked.
“If we go out shouting, marching, dancing and singing that people of a particular religion are being persecuted and killed, you also forgot people of other religions are also affected in the killings by same enemies of the state.
“We must not allow terrorists to come in between us and divide us. If we mistakenly do, then we are finished. There is nothing wrong with any religious organisation marching on the street to call for God’s interventions in a particular issue. But we shouldn’t make a show of such things because we want to be visible and therefore bring more problems to the nation.
No terrorist can be religious person, no religious person can be terrorist – Fr Omonokhua
Also, the Executive Secretary of NIREC, Father Cornelius Omonokhua, called on Christians and Muslims to come together to fight terrorism and insecurity.
“No terrorist can be a religious person and no religious person can be a terrorist. We must come together now to pray and fight those who have waged war against humanity in Nigeria,” he said.
On his part, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Samson Ayokunle, lamented that Nigerian roads have become a den of kidnappers and a no-go-area for travellers, wondering why persons would be kidnapped and the security forces cannot trace the kidnappers to their hideout and rescue the victims.
The CAN President, therefore, called for increase in intelligence gathering and on the public to also volunteer information to the security agencies so that the movement of criminals could be traced and they are apprehended ahead of time, urging security agents to purge themselves of the criminals among them, who aid and abate criminality.
Pastor Ayokunle also called for more funding of the security forces to acquire modern equipment that will enhance their performance, he said there should also be deliberate efforts by the government to create enabling environment for the employment of youth, making it difficult for criminality to be appealing to them to join.
He said: “Travelling from one point to another by road in particular have become a very great risk, kidnapper are everywhere and they don’t only come out to kidnap but also to kill, so you don’t know who the next victim is going to be.
“Why should these people be killing and hiding people in our territory without being challenged, why should it be easy for them to hide people somewhere within the state and the security agencies in the state within few days or weeks will not be able to fish them out?”
