Erstwhile Head of State and Presidential Candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), General (rtd) Muhammadu Buhari should be arrested for his many incendiary comments on the Nigerian polity, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has said.
According to CAN, it is unfortunate that while the rest of the country is praying for the successful of the military action against terrorists in the North, Buhari has been indulging in make careless pronouncements without consideration for victims of families of the sect’s acts of terrorism.
“The retired general was widely reported by several national newspaper correspondents who monitored the Liberty Radio programme, Guest of the week, to have questioned the ‘special treatment’ given to the Niger-Delta militants by the Federal Government while the Boko Haram members were being killed and their houses destroyed by government,” President of CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor wrote in a statement signed by his Media Assistant, Kenny Ashaka.
“They (the Niger-Delta militants) were trained in some skills and were given employment, but the ones in the North were being killed and their houses were being demolished. They are different issues. What brought this? It is injustice.”
Oritsejafor stated that he could not wish away the outburst of harshly critical statements, especially as some of them are directly related to the defence of the Boko Haram sect whose members have continued to kill, maim Christians and burn Churches.
“I feel the pain inflicted on Christians living in the North is too deep for us in CAN to ignore any unsavoury statement tending to portray innocent Christians who have been killed by the sect members as the aggressors,” he added.
“It is shocking that at a time [when] well-meaning Nigerians are praying for the success of our soldiers, Buhari, rather than reflect the mood of the nation in his statements and conducts, is indulging in careless statements without regards for victims of the sect’s violence who are mostly Christians.
“I have, several times, been vindicated that Boko Haram is not inspired by pecuniary motives, the latest of which is the statement by Robert Fowler, the released former United Nation’s envoy to Niger Republic who said in a BBC programme, Hard Talk, aired on Tuesday, 4th June, 2013 that his captors never talked of poverty, but Islamisation of Africa.
“Spent and defeated politicians with outburst of temper and elders like Buhari who take delight in inflaming religious and ethnic passions should, therefore, be arrested and made to explain some of the issues raised by them. This is why I call for the arrest of Buhari now. Buhari is a big security risk to Nigeria’s cooperate existence.”
According to Oritsejafor, it is laughable that Buhari, an ex-Head of State, a General in the Nigerian Army who has served this country in different capacities would support Islamists who are confronting those in his constituency who are fighting to keep the nation from dismemberment.
“For Buhari who has led a Brigade of troops in 1982 to repel invading Chadian troops from the same north-eastern borders of Nigeria, the first major foreign invasion, to oppose a state of emergency when some parts of Borno and Yobe States had been occupied and the Nigerian flag replaced with theirs, burnt Churches, schools, government institutions, killed innocent Christians, attacked traditional rulers and others not sympathetic to their cause, speaks volume,” he said.
“The retired general’s sad commentary has not portrayed him as a national leader. As a retired General, he should have known that fights against terrorists are not mere child’s play. They are much more difficult than conventional war which he fought in 1982. If Buhari is a national leader, he should have been more concerned about the killings of innocent ones by the sect members and the success of the troops and not that of terrorists as he has been doing.”
