By James Ojo, UNN
From Kano to Gombe, the wave of terrorism continues on Nigeria's soil. Where do we go from here? This evil must stop!
Just of recent, it happened again on that faithful sunny Friday, in Kano, a Jumat service it was but the sporadic gunshots, bombs that went off made nonsense of this sacred place of worship. Blood of Islam faithfuls, splashed on the wall, human flesh torn beyond recognition; men and women struggling for a gasp. What a day! a horrible day. Indeed, another historic event albeit, a sad one has gone into the anals of Nigerian history.
And then in a quick succession, in Bajoga,the headquarters of the Funakaye Local Government Area of Gombe State, the Boko Haram islamic sect launched another devastating attack on Thursday, 4th of December,2014. From all indications, it is glaring that attempts aimed at curbing insecurity in Nigeria by the federal government had proved futile.
True are the words of our elders that:"it is only a mad man that sleeps with his roof on fire". Are we going to fold our arms while this evil continues? No! Nigerians must take action. Nigerians must now speak with their minds.
It was amidst these challenges that Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the president, Christain Association of Nigeria(CAN) has given "five conditions for finding a lasting solution to our intractable security challenges posed by the present Boko Haram insecurity". According to him the "five conditions" are:
"As a nation we must stop pretending that the present Boko Haram insurgency is not a product of religion, because it is.
"The millitary campaign must continue and forcefully so.But for it to be effective the security agencies must search and boldly look inwards to fish out and expel from amongst them those who are Boko Haram sympathizers. If this is not done, the millitary option must continue to suffer set-backs.
"Muslim Clerics, Muslim traditional leaders and Muslim political leaders must as a matter of urgency come together and jointly face the facts of the grave dangers posed by the ideology being propagated by Boko Haram, which is inimical to the tenets of traditional Islam as much as it does to christainity. You can't fight an ideology with anything short of a superior ideology.
"Our respective Muslim Clerics must help us go to the grassroots to build into the heart of the average Muslim the fact that Nigeria as it stands today has no option but to reman united as one people with diverse ethnic and religious leanings. They should therefore encourage them, even at the risk of their lives, to expose the members of Boko Haram in their midst and subsequently give credible intelligence reports to the security agencies.
"Finally, government must seriously tackle the problem of our porous borders- not just land but both air and sea. And one important means of acheiving this objectives is to screen those whose duty is to man these borders," he said.
What an insightful speech! It might appear short, but it is encompassing. Indeed, our current insecurity saga would be a thing of the past in no distant time if these measures are properly looked into.
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