The archbishop of Abuja John Cardinal Onaiyekan has said that
said Boko Haram were religious extremists but that some of them were sincere. Onaiyekan
stated this In an interview with Vatican Radio published by Radiovaticana. He
said they “have very bizarre, sometimes crazy, ideas, which they hold very
firmly.” “We believe most of them are sincere: they are sincere, but wrong.” He
insisted that although the terrorists have been condemned by the Muslim
leadership in Nigeria, he suggested that there should be room for dialogue.
“The good news is that the vast majority of Nigerian Muslims,
and the Islamic establishment in Nigeria, have consistently and clearly
disowned (boko Haram).” “Government has not done enough to seek other ways of
addressing the terrorist insurgency.” “They have put too much emphasis and
focus on military engagement, including spending lots of money – buying
sophisticated weapons, and maybe even employing mercenaries at high cost. Now,
that is partly necessary – and maybe Boko Haram has not been put in a position
to be ready to talk.” “We are not aware that government is making enough effort
to create a forum for discussion – and I do believe that, at the end of the
day, there will be a need to discuss – because the objective of killing off
every Boko Haram [member] is first not possible, and secondly, not even
desirable: we should rather seek a way of getting their leadership to finally
begin to agree that they have taken the wrong course, so that we can start
moving forward.” Cardinal Onaiyekan however noted that the terrorists were only
affecting a small part of the country contrary to the coverage they get in
international media. “The whole world keeps talking about Boko Haram, and even
we in Nigeria are surprised at how much press Boko Haram is getting abroad.”
“They think the entire nation has been taken over, whereas in fact, it is just
one section of the country. “The rest of the nation is busy with other
problems.”
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