President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, this afternoon raised an alarm over what he called “the intended extermination of Christians and Christianity from northern Nigeria.”

Though the alarm comes on the heels of yesterday’s deadly bomb attack that killed over 60 people in a luxury bus park in Kano, it is not the only reason behind it.

In a statement which he issued through his Special Assistant (Media & Communication), Mr. Kenny Ashaka, Oritseafor reeled out a list of recent developments in the north of the country which made him to conclude that there exists a plot to wipe out Christians and Christianity in that region. One of such developments is “the prevalence of attacks on Christians and their Churches in the northern part of Nigeria in recent times, one of which is the burning of a Church belonging to the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, by unknown persons in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, and the unconstitutional suspension of the only female and Christian legislator in the Bauchi State House of Assembly on charges of opposition to the relocation of the headquarters of a local council.”

According to the statement, a copy of which is in the possession of News Express, “Inasmuch as his heart goes to the Muslim victims in this latest suicide attack in Sabon Gari, Kano, a ward predominantly occupied by indigenous and non-indigene Christians, he feels the attacks in Kano, Gusau and the travails of the only Christian female legislator were a signpost of the intended extermination of Christians and Christianity from northern Nigeria.

“The CAN President believes that the suicide bombing of a Lagos-bound 59-seater luxury bus which killed 25 people by those whose inhumanity and vicious behavior terrifies Nigerians is utterly evil, tragic and condemnable.

“He asks the Kano State Government to be more circumspective and to liaise effectively with security agencies in the state in order to forestall future occurrence since Kano has become one of the critical stages of Boko Haram violence, a place where violence is likely to break out suddenly.”

Turning his attention to the Federal Government, Oritsejafor said that it “cannot continue to condemn these heinous acts of the enemies of unity and agents of death without prosecuting those already arrested.” To him, “This does not add up in any way. The Federal Government should do the right thing by prosecuting those already in its net with proven record of complicity. I plead with the government to fish out the sponsors of Jama’atul Ahlis Sunnah Lidda’awati Wal commonly called Boko Haram and the Islamic group, Jama’atu Ansaril Muslimina fi Sudan better known as Ansaru, an al-Qaeda-aligned group and a splinter group which specialty is the kidnapping and killing of Christian foreigners. Those betraying others by working underground with enemies of the nation should also be fished out and dealt with in accordance with the laws of the land.”

According to the firebrand pastor, “The barbaric and sustained bomb and gun attacks on innocent Nigerians is the reason why we in CAN are calling on the Federal Government to support our call for the branding of the Boko Haram sect as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation, FTO. The Federal Government should liaise with the international community and obtain their expertise in order to deal with the terror acts.”

Pastor Oritsejafor praised the nation’s security agencies for upholding the tenets of their profession but said intelligence gathering and sharing of information by all the arms of the Nigerian security will boost their job and help to bring the insurgents on their knees. He, therefore, called on Nigerians to volunteer information to the various arms of the nation’s security agencies.

The CAN President also called on members of Boko Haram and Ansaru to remember that in Islam, killing a human is an act that is equal in gravity to unbelief and regretted that some religious leaders and immature clerics have no other weapon to hand than their fundamentalist interpretation of Islam which they use to engage people in struggle that serve their purpose.

“Those pro-terror people grew up among these Islamic religious leaders and are Muslims,” he said, adding: “Whatever new kind of transformation they have undergone that they have become terrorists should be blamed on these leaders. Why are they rebelling against human values? Why do they blow themselves up as suicide bombers? These leaders must re-examine some of their weak points and deficiencies in their method of preaching. The proponents of Amnesty to Boko Haram sect members should have a rethink and join concerned Nigerians to fish out these bloodthirsty and callous killers that reside among them.”

Oritsejafor called on Islamic religious leaders “to rise and expose those who have sullied the good face of Islam, those who have created a contaminated image of their religion. Those who speak about the perversion of their religion should condemn those replacing Islamic logic with their feelings and desires. For the growth of a well developed younger generation, we, the religious leaders, must work together to solve this problem of terror, an instrument that is certainly not approved by God.”

Photo: CAN President Oritsejafor.