CAN calls on FG to join forces with other nations to counter terrorism

Rev. Samson Ayokunle, President, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has called on the Federal Government to join forces with other nations to fight terrorism in Nigeria.

Ayokunle made the call on Monday in Abuja during a Capacity Building Workshop, tagged: “Religious Freedom in Northern Nigeria,’’held at the National Christian Centre.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the one-day event was organised in collaboration with a United States based Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), 21stCentury Wilberforce Initiative (21CWI).

The workshop was organised to deliberate on how to evolve peace in the midst of violence in the country.

Ayokunle said that it was regrettable that issues of terrorism in Nigeria had not received substantial humanitarian response from the world, especially from the world’s most powerful nations.

He said that the attention given by these countries to terrorism in Nigeria could not be compared to the attention given to disasters of smaller degree in other parts of the world.

The CAN president said that victims of terrorist attacks in Nigeria were human beings and needed the assistance of all to bounce back to life again.

He said that though the displacement of such persons had been regarded by several international bodies as humanitarian crisis and disaster, they were yet to receive adequate attention.

Ayokunle called on international communities to come to the aid of victims of insurgency in Nigeria, especially those in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps by providing them with basic necessities of life.

Earlier, Dr Elijah Brown, Vice President of Wilberforce, 21CWI, while commenting on insurgency in the northern parts of the country, said Nigeria had more IDPs than any other country in the world.

“What is unfolding in Northern and Central Nigeria is one of the gravest current humanitarian crises in the world.

“The violence of Boko Haram in the North-East will further compound one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world,” he said.

According to him, over 2.1 million people have been displaced internally with about 2000 women, boys and girls abducted by the Boko Haram terrorist group since 2012.

Brown said that terrorist activities in Nigeria were aided by the already existing foundational discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities in the Northern region.

“Muslim and Christian communities in North-Eastern Nigeria are profoundly and negatively impacted by the terrorist violence pursued by Boko Haram.

“In the Middle Belt, Fulani militants’ attacks are significantly escalating with the net effect that in the name of creating grasing reserves, territory largely in Christian Local Government Areas are being targeted and destroyed.

“If immediate action is not taken, religious minorities in Northern Nigeria will continue to face policies and practices that seek to remove their very presence,’’ Brown said.

He called on the Federal and State Governments to ensure rule of law and religious freedom in their respective domains to promote peace and unity in the country.

He said that programmes related to religious freedom and rule of law should be implemented across the country to give all citizens a fair opportunity to participate in the political process.

According to Brown, implementation of such programmes will curb impunity and encourage religious freedom, citizenship, constitutionalism and the maturation of institutions of governance.

NAN