Thursday 11 July 2013

CAN President Warns FG On Boko Haram Ceasefire Agreement

CAN President Warns FG On Boko Haram Ceasefire Agreement
Ayo Oritsejafor, Pastor and President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has warned Nigerians not to be deceived by the buffoonery of the notorious Islamic sect Boko Haram, and, therefore, dismissed the purported ceasefire announced by its members.
The Pastor voiced his concern at the ninth assembly of the Christian body; he further explained that Boko Haram should not be trusted as there is no accord in the sect.
In its Monday statement made available to journalists in Maiduguri, Borno State, Boko Haram has declared ceasefire, mentioning talks with the Borno State Government as the reason for doing so.
At the same time, the sect implied there indeed were certain discords within it adding that, despite this fact, the power to order a ceasefire rests with the the leader of the authentic group, Imam Abubakar Shekau.
Musing on whether there is a real possibility of establishing peace with the purported declaration of truce, Oritsejafor asked: "Which Boko Haram? There have been all kinds of people that claim to be Boko Haram, now there are two groups, the Shekau group and Asaro group, have you heard from them?
"Even if one person says, 'I want peace, I drop my weapons, we will be happy', but I still continue to ask which Boko Haram because we have seen situations in the past where they told us that some people said they now want to reach truce, and the next day we saw people being killed there."
Oritsejafor, who promised to commit the fresh mandate given to him by the Christian body to pursue peace in the land, also extended his hands of fellowship to the adherents of other faith, stressing that in togetherness lies the destiny of Nigeria and Nigerians.
"Together we are strong. Divided, we are weak. Together we can build the nation and reposition Nigeria and make it strong united country. We can reach out to our brothers in other religions, seat together and look for ways to stop terrorism. We should work together to build Nigeria, respect each other and get to the level where no one is judged by his religion, or tribe but by the content of his character.
"We need to establish equity and justice as peace will continue to elude us if we fail to uphold equity and justice in Nigeria. Christianity and Islam must stand side," he also said.
On the moves by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to make religious organisation pay taxes, the cleric urged those behind it to leave the church alone, adding that CAN would not fold its arm and watch the churches being stampeded or asked to go to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to obtain a form before they could operate their accounts.
Commenting on his re-election, he said: "My re-election is part of God's plan to ensure that we have a strong nation. We will continue to dialogue with those we need to dialogue with and we will continue to speak out about terrorism, corruption. I see a great moral burden on me now but there is hope that things will get better."

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