CAN: Boko Haram kills 16 in Borno church

Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) President
Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor yesterday alleged that
Boko Haram members handcuffed and burnt to
death 16 Christians in a church in Biu, Borno
State.
CAN, in a statement, said Pastor Oritsejafor
was saddened by the twin explosions by Boko
Haram in Kano metropolis where about 53
people were killed and scores injured.
The statement by Pastor Oritsejafor’s Special
Adviser on Media, Kenny Ashaka, said: “He is
particularly traumatised by the unreported
news from Biu in Borno State that 16
Christians were handcuffed and burnt to death
by members of the Boko Haram sect within
the precinct of a church in the ancient city on
Sunday, a day before one of the explosions in
Kano went off at the Christ Salvation
Pentecostal Church at the peak of evening
worship.
“On behalf of CAN, the President commiserates
with the victims of the bomb attack, the
families and friends of those who lost their
lives in the Kano and Biu tragedies and insists
that these happenings are a further
confirmation that the primary targets of the
Boko Haram sect are Christians and their
churches. He prays that God should grant unto
the families of the departed the grace of
comfort at this trying moment.
“Pastor Oritsejafor says with the bombing of
the Pentecostal Church, the killing of non-
indigenes of Christian faith in Kano and the 16
Christians burnt to death in Biu, the Federal
Government should consider the handshake to
the Islamic militant group as having extended
beyond the elbow.”
According to him, the Boko Haram sect is
becoming more untrustworthy and that this
latest killings of non-indigenes and Christians
in their places of worship have further stirred
the sensibilities of the people, adding that
“with the persistent and continuing attacks on
innocent Nigerians who are largely non-
indigenes and churches in the northern part of
the country for four years on by the Islamic
militant group, Boko Haram, the need for an
all-round strategy to rein in the Islamic
insurgents has become more persuasive now
more than ever before.
“We in CAN commend officers and men of the
special forces for taking extra-ordinary steps
to protect the lives and property of innocent
Nigerians.
“The police and the State Security Service, SSS,
should do the same and, in addition, sharpen
their investigative skills. As it is, we would not
be wrong to think that those who buy the
extreme ideologies of the Boko Haram sect
have infiltrated the ranks of all the security
arms of the nation as intelligence sharing and
management seem thwarted by agents of the
sect within the system.
“If personalities who do not have the mandate
of the people speak as though representing
them, those mushrooming as champions of the
North would also add to inspire the terrorist
into action against those who are from other
regions and religions.
“In the meantime, we plead with Islamic
scholars to begin to restructure the
unsymmetrical unity among them which has
manifested in the evolution of five
denominational ideologies, namely Suni, Shia,
Tijania, Izala and Ahmadiyya. The real Islam
that CAN knows should make true leaders of
the faith to rectify the contradictions of
arbitrary knowledge of the Qur’an to remind
those pushed out of the line to seek the good
of all.
“Having waved the olive branch, constituted a
committee to dialogue with the result that
more Nigerians, especially Christians, are being
killed during the month of Ramadan, CAN
believes that her members are targeted for
annihilation. This is a war of ethnic and
religious cleansing by the Islamic
fundamentalists. There is, currently, a
particularly tiny tribe of contaminous and
irascible Islamic clerics who take delight in
inflaming passions. We urge them to keep
passion aside and rally behind the Special
Forces in order to defeat the current enemy.
We urge them to tone down their rhetorics and
take more and far reaching actions that would
see an end to this undeserved violence on
innocent Nigerians.
“By doing this, they will be joining the league
of the ‘civilian JTF in Borno State’ who have
since been fired by nationalistic fervour to
fight against terrorists. They should not throw
barbs when the Northeast part of the northern
region is a hotbed of the terrorists. As true
believers in the fact that fundamentalism and
terrorism are not of Islam, fearlessness,
courage and determination should be their
major weapons. Once again, we appeal to well
meaning Nigerians, friendly nations in Africa
and indeed the international community to
come to the aid of Nigeria in her bid to stem
this evil tide of violence.”