FG, Boko Haram talk senseless –Oritsejafor ....Insists Christians must defend selves

Monday, March 26, 2012

Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor

President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor has described the ongoing move by the Federal Government to dialogue with the dreaded Boko Haram Islamist group as senseless and uncalled for. This is just as he maintained his initial stand that Nigerian Christians should defend themselves against further attacks.
Oritsejafor said there was no reason whatsoever for any reasonable government led either by a Muslim or Christian to engage a group trying to impose an Islamic government on the country in talks.

Speaking at the 46th Annual Convention of the United Church of Christ in Nigeria, held in Kaduna yesterday, the number one Christian in Nigeria queried: “Who is Boko Haram? Again, is there really Boko Haram? There are about 26 different jihadist and Islamist groups. It is you the media that group them together and call them Boko Haram.”
According to him, “I don’t even know who they are but my point is this, it depends on what you are trying to negotiate or dialogue with them for. Will you discuss with somebody who is saying Nigeria must become a Muslim or an Islamic nation?”
He therefore stated categorically that, “I don’t think any sensible government, whether the president is a Muslim or a Christian, will want to sit down and discuss such thing because it is greatest instrument of disunity that this country will ever experience. How do you discuss that? So, I don’t see any basis for such discussion in the first place.”
On his earlier controversial directive that Christians should henceforth defend themselves against any attack, the CAN president maintained that defending oneself was a law of God.

“I seat back and wondered when I said to Christians, ‘defend yourself, protect yourself.’ It is part of the laws of God. If you pursue an animal to a point the animal will turn around and pursue you. If you want to go into a man’s house and you said you want to kill him, if he just says kill me, that is called suicide and if you commit suicide you will go to hell. You are supposed to protect yourself and that is what we are saying. Don’t retaliate; just protect yourself.
“Nigerians sometimes, not all of us, but many of us are hypocrites. We pretend too much. How can a man be injured and you are saying he is inciting violence and violence is being done to him and yet you are saying he is the one inciting violence. It doesn’t make sense.

“When you see Christians coming out talking tough, it is the pains. Look, let us be honest, they are the people who are suffering most in this thing. That is why you see them talking and expressing themselves because of the pains they feel. It is not because they don’t want love, one Nigeria.
“I believe we must work together. So we are willing but I believe in progressive dialogue where we sit and set bench mark, we set goals we want to achieve through our dialogue and through that we can begin to achieve something. I think it will work well for us if we do that and then all Nigerians must expose evil doers in our midst.

“My appeal to Nigerians is that, you must not harbour people who are criminals, killers in the name of religion, saying he is part of my religion. It is criminal, these are killers, murderers. These are people who have no regard for God, who go to house of worship and throw bombs. They have no regard for human life,” Oritsejafor stressed.
He, however, expressed optimism that Nigerians wiould be wise enough to begin to identify “these people, expose them, allow them to be taken out,” urging, “don’t be afraid, God will keep you but we must expose them, not as Christians or Muslims, but as Nigerians.”