by James Sambo

The Christian Association of Nigeria, Ayo Oritsejafor has suggested ways to end the ongoing Boko Haram war in the nation.

While speaking at the opening ceremony of the association’s National Executive Council meeting in Abuja on Wednesday, the Pastor said the association was ready to meet senior Muslim clerics with a view to ending the insurgency and unprovoked attack on Christians and churches.

“What is happening in the North-east is unacceptable. What is happening there is unacceptable to us. Christians are the main victims. We are not saying that other people are not affected.

“But Christians are the ones affected more. All the places where Boko Haram has foisted their flags are dominated by Christians.”

“They have taken over Mubi in Adamawa state which is dominated by Christians. Somebody will now tell me this is not religion. Who is fooling who? Nigerians should accept that we have a problem,” he stated

Offering solutions on how to combat the problem, the man of God said

“All well meaning Nigerians must pray and continue to pray. We must pray. I will not join those condemning our security agencies. They are Nigerians. Women are losing their husbands and children are losing their fathers. I want to challenge the military. They can do better. They must continue to fish out those sabotaging their efforts. Those people should be expelled. They are in all the security agencies.

“No matter the intention you have, if you have people working against you, you will not succeed. There are too many people in the system working against the system. Why should these kind of things be happening? Innocent people are being killed. It’s too much. Enough is enough,” Oritsejafor told the audience.

He further advised the Federal Government and other critical stakeholders to adopt another approach in bringing an end to activities of Boko Haram, as the use of force alone cannot end the insurgency.

” Even though I have said the military must continue to work harder, guns and bullets alone will not save this problem. Boko Haram is an ideology. Let us not run away from it. You do not defeat an idealogy with guns and bullets. You defeat an idealogy with a superior ideology. Boko Haram will not listen to me.

“I want to make an appeal to our Muslim clerics and Muslim political leaders to come together and see how they can help us solve this problem. They have the solution. There are some muslim scholars Boko Haram members respect. To a large extent, that is the only way out.

Calling on the international community to come to the aid of Nigeria and Nigerians, Oritsejafor said he still believes the country will surmount its current challenges and come out stronger.

“I wonder why the international community is not saying anything. Is this not human rights violation? We call on government, NEMA, NGOs, the international community. We need help. Our people are dying. Come and help us,” he quipped.

Sola