The General Overseer, Evangelical Ministries, Lagos, Bishop Steven Ogedengbe, has said the call for amnesty for members of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, should be taken seriously.
He called on President Goodluck Jonathan to, as a matter of urgency, constitute a reconciliatory and advisory board to fast-track the process. In a telephone interview on Friday, Ogedengbe said, “My view is different from those of the Christian Association of Nigeria and the Pentecostal fellowship of Nigeria.
I advise the Federal Government to carefully weigh theadvice given by the Sultan of Sokoto, given his antecedent as a military person.
“Our people should not just dismiss his advice but remember that as the President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III is a spiritual leader for the Islamic community and can best communicate their feelings.”
But CAN had disagreed with the Sultan in the wake of his call for total amnesty for members of the Boko Haram sect for the sake of peace.
It said in a statement by its General Secretary, Dr. Musa Asake, that it rejected any offer of amnesty for members of the BokoHaram sect.
Ogedengbe urged Jonathan to look beyond religious sentiments and address the call by setting up the board to be headed by the Sultan with representatives of Christians and security agencies as members. He said, “The problem in Nigeria isa result of internal insurgence andit must be tackled with care. The Sultan must have made that call based on some information available to him.
I advise that it is not pushed under the carpet in the interest of the innocent lives that are being lost.
“I am yet to hear that a bigwig in the society was bombed, it is the poor ones; so, any right action should be taken in their interest.”
Punch Nigeria
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