Convener of the Save Nigeria Group (SNG), Pastor Tunde Bakare has advised the Federal Government to apologise to members of the Islamist sect Boko Haram over the murder of their leader, Mohammed Yusuf, who was killed in 2009.
According to him, apologising to the sect is one of the ways to end insurgency in the country.
Bakare, who was Buhari’s Vice-Presidential running mate in the 2011 presidential elections also said last Wednesday’s attack on former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari’s convoy in Kaduna State is an indication that bombing in the country is taking a new dimension.
The Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, who spoke during a state of the nation address at a church service in Lagos, while suggesting ways of ending the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria said there was need for “updating and strengthening of military capability, creation of jobs and enhanced welfare to discourage recruits of the sect, diplomatic engagement with the international community, creation of an atmosphere of political inclusion rather than exclusion, among others. We need a strong and well coordinated approach to terrorism.”
“But for the timely intervention of God, last week’s assassination attempt on General Muhamadu Buhari might have marked the beginning of the end for Nigeria if it had succeeded. We will not also ignore the fact that at the root of the escalation of the Boko Haram crisis was oppression and injustice.
“The summary execution of the Boko Haram’s former leader, Mohammed Yusuf in 2009 provided the soil of martyrdom for the nurture and growth of the sect. Government must declare peace first of all; apologising for the murder of Mohammed Yusuf to the sect members not their sympathisers or bandits,” Bakare said.
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