The Catholic
Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, at the weekend advised that there
must be somebody who can talk to Boko Haram militants, saying only military
strategy cannot end the crisis. The Catholic Archbishop advised that all hands
must be on deck to deal with the situation as President Muhammadu Buhari’s
government cannot do it alone.
The former
President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), who spoke in Abuja at
the 2015 Catholic Television of Nigeria (CTV) dinner with the cardinal said, “I
noticed that since we have been taking security very seriously live has been
made extremely difficult for everybody.” He urged Nigerians to continue praying
for possible solution, saying God can do all things.
He
continued: “What happened in Mali can happen here. We do not need people to
cause this kind of great calamity. The question is how do you create a
situation where such things don’t happen? It is not easy but you can do all you
can to put security apparatus around but you cannot do it in such a way that no
bad people will move around.
“As a
spiritual leader, the solution is first we should pray because God can do
everything. Secondly we should look into our religious messages, because many
of these terrorists are also calling the name of some religion, calling the
name of God. But we must find a way of letting them (Boko Haram members) know
that this is not what God wants.
“I
personally do not know how to achieve this but I believe that a lot still needs
to be done. When you (government) reply fire for fire I am afraid it does not
solve the problem. So apart from military tactics there is need for more effort
as political discussion, reaching out to people. Even the terrorists are human
being born of a woman with feelings. “I am sure somebody somewhere can talk to
them.”