The President of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, has said that his problem with most Northern political and religious leaders was that they were not doing enough to dissuade Boko Haram terrorists from the spate of unprovoked attacks on Christians and the country in general.
The cleric who spoke when Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer, CSO, to ex-Head of State, Late General Sani Abacha, led a team of Nigerians, under the aegis of Al-Mustapha Peace, Unity and Development Initiative, on a courtesy visit to him in Warri, Delta State, accused Northern leaders of showing little concern for the plight of southerners affected in the crisis.
Al-Mustapha informed the CAN President that he was in Warri to seek his understanding and support for peace and unity in the country in the face of the siege to some northern parts of the country and killing of innocent persons by Boko Haram.
He said one of the shocking findings by his group was that some individuals were investing in crisis in the country and were at the moment sponsoring propaganda against him and his team for seeking the return of peace and unity in the country.
Oritsejafor, who said he was impressed by Al-Mustapha’s peace efforts, said about eight years ago, he personally drove to Asaba to deliver materials to Northerners that fled Onitsha and other parts of the East, when angry Easterners, on sighting the corpses of their kinsmen that were slaughtered by insurgents in the North, rose against them.
“There must be a way of reaching out to these displaced persons. Look at what is happening in Borno State. It is happening to both Christians and Muslims, but when you listen to the leader of these insurgents, Abubakar Shekau, he said in the last message that they are after Christians and anywhere they find them, they will kill them.”