CAN, Islamic Institute Call For Superior Ideology To End Boko Haram
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), on Tuesday said the Federal Government needs a superior ideology as well as military action in order to put an end to Boko Haram atrocities in the country.
This was made known by CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, at the Christian/Muslim interactive meeting on peace, unity and justice held in Abuja.
He posited that Boko Haram was not an Islamic agenda aimed at eliminating Christians from the North or neither is it a move by the Federal Government to punish Northerners.
The clergyman, however, advocated the use of a superior ideology to counter the ideology of the insurgents, noting that poverty does not propel insurgency as shown by Boko Haram.
"Boko Haram is an ideology; the military is very vital and must play its part. But it will not solve it completely just by bullets. You will have to create an avenue for a superior argument in the area of ideologies. You must bring up another ideology that is higher and better that will contradict the ideology that has created this monster. It is a fact that Boko Haram is not as a result of poverty but as a result of an ideology" Oritsejafor said.
The CAN president advised Muslim clerics to end the bloodshed in the country by engaging persons with violent, contradictory ideologies.
In his remark, Prof. Mohammed Al-Amin, Chairman of the Islamic Research Institute assured Muslims that the Federal Government was not using the Boko Haram insurgency to punish them.
"I perfectly agree that Boko Haram is an ideological problem and the best way to tackle it is through intellectual engagement. If you convert someone ideologically you have done what weapons and other persuasive efforts could not do. The opinion of this conference is that Boko Haram is not an agenda of Muslims to attack and obliterate Christians in this country. It is also not an agenda of the Federal Government to unleash mayhem on the Northerners" Al-Amin said.
Al-Amin called on community and religious leaders in the North to take the true message enshrined in the holy book to the youth in the area, pointing out that intellectual engagement of young persons was the best way to contain the insurgency ravaging the area.
Meanwhile, other participants at the meeting pointed out that contentious religious issues such as marriage, education and other aspects of human endeavour should be the focus of subsequent sessions of the inter-faith meeting. They also stressed that mutual respect for the various religious groups was a necessity for peaceful co-existence in the country.
It was reported on June 16 After two explosive devices were defused by the Anti-bomb Unit of police at the Winners Chapel on Port Harcourt road in Owerri, on Sunday, the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, in Imo State has called on Christians in the state to embark on fasting and prayers to fight terrorism spiritually.
Source: Legit.ng
