Boko Haram politically-motivated – Oritsejafor

From JUDEX OKORO, Calabar
The President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Bishop Ayo Oritsejafor, has again stated that Boko Haram Islamist sect was created and sponsored by political failures looking for political space in 2015. Oritsejafor maintained that since they realised they had failed to achieve their ulterior motive through the ballot box they decided to vent their anger on Nigerians by seeking to divide Nigeria along religious lines.
“Boko Haram is fueled by extreme religious ideology and not poverty because they have not come out to tell us that they are killing people because they are poor,” he said. The CAN president, who stated this yesterday while speaking at the opening ceremony of a six-day meeting of the Niger Delta Christian Leaders Forum holding in Christian Central Chapel International (CCCI), Calabar, Cross River State capital, said the claim that Boko Haram was a creation of poverty was a lie.
He said “those sponsoring the organisation or its apologists are just misleading Nigerians and the world by saying that Boko Haram members are poor people. The leaders of Boko Harm are from very wealthy family and background and even that young man who wanted to blow up an American airline, his father is a retired permanent secretary and one of the richest men in Nigeria.”
According to the CAN president, “the sponsors of Boko Hram have control of a section of the media through which they feed the public with what he calls half truths.” On the allegations that he is a fundamentalist and partisan leader, the number one Christian said, “it is really misleading and unfortunate because I have never shot a gun before neither have killed anybody before; I have never encouraged anybody to kill anybody before. But what I do is to identify the truth and respond to it because I am not afraid of trouble.”
He said “many people are afraid of trouble that is why they cannot achieve greatness nor speak out when necessary but we have to face up to the reality because the Niger Delta region is a great region on whose pedestal Nigeria is standing to lay claim to greatness.”
The cleric, who spoke in an angry tone stated that, “Niger Delta is a region of great people yet we are poor; the Niger Delta is very small and powerful yet we are weak. This is time for exchange as all those things that have eluded us shall be reclaimed.” In his welcome address, the president and founder of CCCI, Calabar, Bishop Emmah Gospel Isong, said this was the time for all Christians to wake up from slumber and fight terrorism in Nigeria as it was capable of tearing the nation apart.
The PFN chairman, Cross River State, however, called on Nigerians to reject any move by disgruntled persons to cause disharmony among Christians at this auspicious time of national revivals.

158 Boko Haram suspects arrested in Adamawa

A special joint task force of security operatives, comprising men of the State Security Services (SSS) the Police and the Armed Forces, codenamed, “Operation Restore Sanity” on Monday, unraveled the mystery of Boko Haram operations in Mubi, Adamawa State, as no fewer than 158 persons have been arrested with sophisticated weapons . Security agent s also discovered a factory alleged to be manufacturing ammunition, guns and Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), daggers, bows and arrows, AK 47 rifles, gun smokers and dane guns and were recovered by Operation Restore Sanity.
The factory, located at the Shagari Low Cost Housing Estate, in Yelwa Ward, Mubi was discovered, while the security operatives embarked on house-to-house search for culprits and suspects of the Boko Haram Islamist sect, following a dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed on Mubi Metropolis and its environs.
The Brigade Commander, of the 23rd Armoured Brigade, Brigadier- General, John Nwoaga, who conducted newsmen to the housing estate told journalists that the 158 suspects were arrested during the search and some of them were apparently responsible for the vandalization of Airtel, MTN, and Globacom network masts in the metropolis. According to him, the operation is ongoing and it is a sweeping exercise, as more suspects would be arrested, while innocent folks would be released to their families. General Nwoaga, also told journalists at the Army Base in Mubi, where the suspects are detained that six females and five children were among the 158 suspects already detained by the Operation Restore Sanity.
He said that the safety of the law abiding citizens in the area was important to the security agencies and enjoined royal fathers in the state to cooperate with the Operation Restore Sanity agents assignment as security agents were poised to fish out the culprits of security breaches in Mubi and the entire state. General Nwoaga charged the royal fathers not to show lukewarm attitude to the assignment, as useful information were required from them as people closest to their respective communities and should give useful information to them for the success of the operation.
The intelligence reports from the Royal Fathers, will go a long way to successful arrest of the suspects who will be interrogated, and those found to be innocent would be let free. Meanwhile, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has commiserated with the families of victims of Sunday’s bomb blast in Bauchi, Bauchi State.
CAN in a statement signed by special Assistant to the association’s President, Mr. Kenny Ashaka in Abuja, said it received with shock, the bomb explosion at the St. John’s Catholic Cathedral in Bauchi which killed four people when an explosives-packed car reportedly rammed into the line of worshippers waiting to be screened before entering the church. “According to reports, the suicide bomber died while no fewer than 48 worshippers sustained various degrees of injuries. “CAN commiserates with the families of victims of the bomb explosion, the leadership of the Church in Bauchi State and the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN) over this dastardly act. “It prays that the Almighty God will continue to defend His Church, people and multiply the lots of Christianity in Nigeria.
“CAN notes that the re-launching of violence against christians and their churches at a time when many Nigerians felt such insurgency had ebbed is instructive,” the statement made available to Daily Sun in Abuja by the Special Assistant to the CAN President on Media, Mr. Kenny Ashaka, said. The statement further read: “Coming on the heels of last week’s attack in Bauchi where some gunmen killed nine christians and injured five, CAN condemns these deadly attacks. “We blame these attacks targeted at christians in Bauchi, on the shadowy aloofness of the state government which has failed to take precautionary measures and compliment the efforts of Christians in the state.”
“As it is, the state government seems to be unfazed by the calamities happening to christians. It is sad that after several attacks on christians in the state, we are still unable to put our fingers on the government’s ability to secure the lives, property of christians and their churches. “While CAN believes that christians and well-meaning Muslims should continue to work together for the attainment of peace in the land, it is convinced that muslim leaders in the north can end this orgy of violence and blood-letting by fishing out elements in their midst whose intention is to give their religion a bad name.
“From what we see, these planned attacks on christians, churches, Islamic clerics and traditional rulers who are not in support of their nefarious activities, government institutions and properties of privately-run business concerns, the economy of the region may be plundered beyond redemption,” CAN noted.
source: sunnewsonline.com