TheCable

Ayo Oritsejafor, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and founder of Warri-based Word of Life Bible Church, says infiltrators in security agencies are responsible for Nigeria’s inability to contain the insurgency in the northeast.

He challenged the military to fish out such persons for dismissal, expressing confidence that the country would surmount its present security challenge.

Lamenting the frequent attack on churches, Oritsejafor called for prayers, urging religious leaders to unite in order to proffer a lasting solution.

“No matter the intention you have, if you have people working against you, you will not succeed,” he said.

“There are too many people in the system working against the system. Why should these kind of things be happening? Innocent people are being killed. It’s too much. Enough is enough.

“Even though I have said the military must continue to work harder, guns and bullets alone will not save this problem. Boko Haram is an ideology. Let us not run away from it. You do not defeat an ideology with guns and bullets. You defeat an ideology with a superior ideology. Boko Haram will not listen to me.

“I want to make an appeal to our Muslim clerics and Muslim political leaders to come together and see how they can help us solve this problem. They have the solution. There are some muslim scholars Boko Haram members respect. To a large extent, that is the only way out.

“We want a Nigeria where everyone is safe. We want a Nigerian where a man is not judged by his religion. That is the Nigeria we all want. If we want one united Nigeria, we must all pay the price for it.”

Oritsejafor  appealed to Christians across the country to participate in the forthcoming election, saying it is important for them to choose those who would govern them.

He warned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against shoddiness in the distribution of the permanent voter cards, saying that plans to disenfranchise some citizens would be counter-productive.

“I want to say passionately to Nigerians,  go and get your voter cards; and I appeal to INEC to double up,” he said.

“Our people must register and have their voter cards. I hope INEC is not doing something deliberate here in order to prevent Christians from voting. I hope Professor Attahiru Jega can hear me. We must all vote and vote wisely.”

Oritsejafor urged the federal government and other stakeholders to adopt another approach in bringing an end to activities of Boko Haram.