CAN In America Wants Boko Haram Designated As Terrorist Organisation

The members of the Christian
Association of Nigerian-Americans
(CANAN) on Thursday embarked on a
rally in U.S. to demand that the Boko
Haram group in the country be
designated as Foreign Terrorist
Organisation (FTO).
The members, who were led by the
Chairman of the association, Pastor
James Fadele, and its Executive Director,
Mr Laolu Akande embarked on the rally
outside the White House in Washington.
The group wondered why the U.S. State
Department had refused to pronounce
the entire Boko Haram as a terrorist
group instead of referring only to its
leader.
Earlier at a news conference held at the
National Press Club, the President of the
Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN),
Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, also faulted the
U.S. government over its delay to
classify the group as terrorist body.
Oritsejafor added that in addition to
non-recognition of the plight of
Nigerians, the U.S. has not offered
humanitarian assistance to victims of
Boko Haram.
"America's ambivalence over the
terrorist challenges in Nigeria is a
stunning betrayal. After 911, Nigeria was
amongst nations that cooperated with
global efforts on tracing terrorist
financing to the point that a designated
foreign financier was uncovered running
a cereal factory in Northern Nigeria.
"FTO designation will kick off the tracking
of terror-financing and arms shipments in
Nigeria and elsewhere.
"It is now one year since I testified
before the U.S. Congress and still the
U.S. has not designated Boko Haram a
foreign terrorist organisation even
though it has killed citizens of over a
dozen of countries and attacked
American citizens too.
"Every week I get a text message that a
church has been burnt or that a Pastor
has just been murdered or that
Christians were randomly rounded up on
a roadside and summarily executed.
"Last week at my inauguration, one seat
was conspicuously empty that of Rev
Faye Musa Pama, CAN secretary in the
Borno State Chapter.
"He was assassinated in his home in the
presence of his kids. His kids pleaded for
his life but still he was killed,'' the CAN
leader said.
Oritsejafor,however, pleaded with rich
churches in the country to come to the
aid of victims of Boko Haram insurgency
as well as in supporting CAN financially.
Contributing, Akande called on the U.S.
State Department to designate Boko
Haram as a Foreign Terrorist
Organisation to give the issue the
international attention it deserves.
(NAN)