FORMER Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, has called on religious leaders in the country to bring solution to the problem of insecurity confronting the country.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBNC) has described as a welcome development various efforts being made by
President Goodluck Jonathan to resolve the Boko Haram crises and bring under control various challenges facing the country.
The Bishops, however, insisted that genuine amnesty should mean offering pardon to repentant militants and not appeasing criminals and their sponsors to stay calm.
But the Primate of All Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, has said that for true peace to emerge, the ability of the north to welcome and protect people of other religions in their midst as a fact of multi-cultural and multi-religious Nigerian reality must be seriously addressed.
Speaking at the Third Session of the Eight Synod of the Diocese of Abuja, Gowon enjoined Christians to exorcise the spirit of violence by not offering violence in self-defence and never encouraging religious warfare but looking beyond self and seeking solutions to the various challenges facing the society.
He said: "With the crises we have in our hand today, you must pray without ceasing, the most important weapon of our warfare for peace in our land; you must work hard at helping to restore peace in the land.
"I am saying that as critical leaders of the Christian faith, you have an important role to play. Be in the vanguards in the fight against corruption, abuse of power, have ideas that would help resolve the crisis of confidence in various facets of national life; cooperate and collaborate with the nation's leadership in the quest for answers to the problem of growing insecurity in the country."
Also speaking, Okoh observed that while the country pursues peace, it must be in the interest of all, adding that true peace must not be only for the Boko Haram sect, the government and its agencies but significantly also for the Church that has been the victim of the activities of the sect.
The Primate posited that "it is in the interest of government and all Nigerians to dialogue with the sect and establish why Boko Haram took up arms against the government, why they target the Church and Christians, why they write letter to Christian communities to relocate or die and why they request communities to convert to Islam or be killed."
He called on government to expand the Amnesty Committee to ensure that membership covers every major culture and religion, stressing that the issue is not an exclusive northern or Islamic problem.
Okoh warned that Amnesty Committee not to put Boko Haram in a triumphal, self congratulatory mood but extract from the members of the sect the commitment to yield to peace for all and drop the pursuit of islamising anyone by force of arms.
While addressing journalists yesterday in Abuja, President, Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBNC), Most Rev Ignatius Kaigama said: "We note various initiatives to resolve the Boko Haram issues such as the setting up of the Amnesty Committee.
"In particular, we note the declaration of the State of Emergency in some states. We insist that genuine amnesty should mean offering pardon to repentant militants and not appeasing criminals and their sponsors to stay calm.
"We pray and hope that the declaration of the State of Emergency in the three states achieve the desired objectives."
Kaigama, who called on the Federal Government to continue to explore most effective means of dialogue with a view to restoring the country to normalcy, urged government to strengthen the nation's justice system for speedy punishment of crime to serve as a deterrent to impunity.
He reaffirmed the commitment of CBNC to building a democratic country and appealed to politicians to place the survival of the country before partisan political interests and consideration.
The Guardian