Northern Clerics Raise the Alarm over Politicisation of Security Challenges

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
The Northern Inter-Faith and Religious Organisations for Peace (NIFROP) has raised the alarm over the politicisation and exploitation of the current security challenges security by individuals seeking relevance.

It lamented that such individuals have in recent weeks been giving religious and ethnic coloration to unfortunate attacks in certain parts of the country.

The National Coordinator, Bishop Gabriel Obubah, while addressing journalists on behalf of his colleagues, said it has become expedient to correct insinuations in the polity that the military have shown biases in the discharge of its duties and responsibilities across the country.

It insisted that such assertion was miles away from the truth but a deliberate smear campaign.
It also commended President Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian Army for demonstrating in clear terms that there would be no compromise or favoritism on the handling of sensitive security situations in the country.

Obubah noted: “Our organisation, in the strongest terms possible, condemn the call by a former Minister of Defence, Lieutenant General TY Danjuma (rtd), for triggering the call for people to take up arms against one another and by implication against the state. For someone that once held the position of Minister of Defence in a multicultural nation like Nigeria, Danjuma knows that his call is for anarchy.

“We decry the situation where certain elements lay claim to Christianity to order adherents to go on killing sprees against persons of other faiths. Those making such calls definitely practice other religious belief and not Christianity because the Bible as every religion frowns at wanton taking of life as being advocated by some heretics. Our charge to Nigerians is to beware since false doctrines would multiply at times like these while national security concerns would be exploited by the unscrupulous.

“We salutes the President Buhari led administration on its efforts on security, without which the peddlers of discord would have succeeded in their bid to destabilise our dear nation. We hail the efforts of the Nigerian Army, in particular, for protecting the lives of all citizens without consideration for ethnic or religious affiliation. It is the Nigerian Army that has stood against wanton destruction of lives and properties by people who are diabolically possessed to the point of desperately being in a hurry to lead an ethic war in the country.

“Once the right political will was marshaled by President Buhari, the Nigerian Army has been able to decimate the terrorists to the point that those that continue to affiliate with Boko Haram are officially endangered species in today’s Nigeria.

“Because evil ones are always out on the prowl to devour the innocent, it is no surprise that what the followers of the devil have failed to achieve through Boko Haram they now want to achieve under the label of ‘armed herdsmen.’

“The patterns are eerily similar; the so-called herdsmen operate with almost an aura of invincibility as Boko Haram once was before its political dimension was divinely exposed to herald its decline and impending end. Instances have also been reported where criminals copy the modus operandi of the so-called killer herdsmen to hide their own identities.

“This is why we at the Northern Inter-Faith Religious Organisation for Peace are alarmed that the issue of national security is being politicised and even being exploited by those seeking relevance. Such people have in recent weeks been giving religious and ethnic coloration to unfortunate attacks in certain parts of the country. Even more worrisome are those asking Nigerians to take up arms and resort to self-help without fully defining who the enemy is.

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