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'Apologize To Boko Haram'- Bakare Advise FG

Published

10 years ago

July 31, 2014

The General Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has advised the Federal Government to apologise to members of the dreaded terrorist group, Boko Haram over the murder of their leader, Mohammed Yusuf, in 2009.

Vanguard reports that the popular pastor gave the advice during a state of the nation address at a church service in Lagos.

According to him, apologizing to the terrorist group is one of the ways the Federal Government can end Boko Haram insurgency.

The clergyman, while condemning the attack on General Muhammadu Buhari’s convoy in Kaduna State on Wednesday, said the incident was an indication that bombing has taken a new dimension in the country.

Bakare while offering solution on how to end the problem of insurgency said: “Updating and strengthening of military capability, creation of jobs and enhanced welfare to discourage recruits of the sect, diplomatic engagement with the international community, creation of an atmosphere of political inclusion rather than exclusion, among others. We need a strong and well-coordinated approach to terrorism.
“But for the timely intervention of God, last week’s assassination attempt on General Muhamadu Buhari might have marked the beginning of the end for Nigeria if it had succeeded. We will not also ignore the fact that at the root of the escalation of the Boko Haram crisis was oppression and injustice.
“The summary execution of the Boko Haram’s former leader, Mohammed Yusuf in 2009 provided the soil of martyrdom for the nurture and growth of the sect. Government must declare peace first of all; apologising for the murder of Mohammed Yusuf to the sect members not their sympathisers or bandits,” he said.

Pastor Tunde Bakare was Buhari’s running mate under the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the 2011 Presidential elections.

The Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad, popularly known as Boko Haram, in Hausa language meaning “Western education is sin”. The terrorist group has its stronghold in the northeastern part of the country, and also in parts of Cameroon and Niger. It has launched multiple deadly attacks and bombings which have claimed thousands of innocent lives in its quest to Islamise the country and put an end to what they described as westernisation.

The sect is responsible for the abduction of over 234 school girls from GGSS, Chibok, Borno State. Their menace has attracted attention of the international community, in particular France, U.S.A., China, Israel, Britain among others, who have volunteered to help the Nigerian Government in wiping the terrorists out, as well as in rescuing the kidnapped Chibok girls.

Boko Haram, which was designated a terrorist group by the US in 2013, started its armed struggle in 2009, after the extrajudicial killing of its founder, Mohammed Yusuf, while in police custody.