“We call on the security apparatus so that they tell us who fuels the Boko Haram violence”
Abuja (Agenzia Fides) – The Bishops of Nigeria criticize the Federal Government for not having made progress in the fight against the Boko Haram sect, whose violent actions are spreading from the north to other parts of the Federation. On September 11, His Excellency Mgr. Felix Alaba Job, Archbishop of Ibadan and President of the Episcopal Conference of Nigeria (CAN), in a speech at the Plenary Meeting of Bishops in Abakaliki (Ebonyi State capital), underlined that the State Security Services-SSS has monitored the development of the Boko Haram sect in the last 5 years, but during this period of time the federal government did not take adequate measures to counter it.
“We have the police, the military, the SSS, various paramilitary organizations, but this security apparatus has not yet been able to tell us who is behind the Boko Haram sect and what their goals are. The sense of our appeal is that the security agencies have to dig into the matter to give answers to all Nigerians”, explains His Exc. Mgr.Ignatius Ayau Kaigama, Archbishop of Jos to Fides.
“We need to understand how a local group, such as Boko Haram, which until recently only used bows and arrows, now has begun to place bombs”, continues Mgr. Kaigama. “Is this the result of the activities of local personalities, or are there international links? We are asking security agencies to respond to questions of this type. They have the tools to tell us what the objectives are, what is the aim of who is threatening the entire country with violence”.
According to some interpretations, which appeared in the international press, the recent attack against the UN headquarters in Abuja seems have been committed or commissioned by agents of the deposed Libyan leader Gaddafi, in revenge for the NATO bombing campaign against his Country, which derives from the legal cover of the 1973 Resolution of the UN Security Council. We ask Mgr. Kaigama what his opinion is: “I am not an expert on these issues, questions like this must be answered by the Nigerian security apparatus. Is Gaddafi behind the bombs or is there someone else? Tell us, so the problem can be dealt with. If speculating simply continues on who the sponsors of terrorist acts are, in my opinion, we send a terrible warning sign to the Country. The federal government must be put in a position to react with full knowledge of the facts”, concludes Mgr. Kaigama. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 13/09/2011)