[size=14pt]Bauchi crisis: Stem religious violence or…,Oritsejafor warns FG[/size]
.Slams Senator Yerima
By Beifoh Osewele
Monday, March 2, 2009

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The Federal Government has been charged to take immediate steps to stem the spate of ethno-religious violence in the North or risk violent disruptions of the democratic process.
National President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor who issued the warning after extensive consultation with fellow Christians especially the youths also appealed to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to urgently call to order religious fundamentalists like former Zamfara State governor, Alhaji Ahmed Sani Yerima, a senator of the Federal Republic, whose “unguided and inflammatory utterances are capable of plunging the nation into crisis of unimaginable proportion.”

A statement signed by Pastor Oritsejafor himself and released in Lagos at the weekend, stated that unless the Federal Government takes urgent steps to arrest the growing trend of religious intolerance to settle some perceived political scores, Christian leaders in the country may no longer be able to restrain youths in their fold, from taking reprisal measures to defend themselves.

In his first official reaction to the recent Bauchi religious riots-the second in two years-the PFN helmsman who just returned from a trip to Israel warned that the mindless and brutal killing of innocent Nigerians in the name of religion was no longer acceptable to the leadership of PFN.
Pastor Oritsejafor noted that certain religious bigots had continued to undermine the numerous appeals of the good natured Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, who had travelled the length and breadth of the country, suing for peaceful co-existence.

The cleric who recently hosted PFN’s 10th biennial conference, recalled that on numerous occasions he had traversed the country in company of the Sultan to appeal for calm and religious tolerance, stressing that they were together in Bauchi on December 31, 2007 for a similar mission after that year’s violent crisis.
According to the PFN boss, the governor promised the NIREC delegation in the presence of the current Secretary to the Federal Government, Alhaji Yayale, who was then the Minister of Defence, that he would pay compensation to the affected victims of that crisis.

The firebrand Pastor and founder of Warri-Delta -State-based word of Life Bible Church lamented that he was yet to hear of any such compensation to any of the victims of the 2007 violent crisis, pointing out that both Christianity and Islam preach love for one another, peace and tolerance. He therefore wondered why certain persons should kill fellow human beings who were created by the same God.
“It is preposterous for a human being created by God to burn down places built for the worship of the same God. Not even in the Middle East,” Oritsejafor lamented, adding that it leaves a sour taste in the mouth to learn that God’s creature will kill another creature of God in the name of religion.

Said he: “After consultation with Christian leaders, especially the youths who rolled out frightful statistics to show how many persons that have been killed in different parts of the North since 1999, I am left with no other option than to make this passionate appeal to the Yar’Adua Administration.
“They told me in tears that after losing their commercial ventures to some mindless religious bigots, they believe they can no longer continue on this path of turning the other cheek because they had been beaten on both cheeks.

“The youth leaders vowed to employ any means available to defend themselves their places of worship and their businesses in any part of the country,” he said, adding “we have turned both cheeks and we have no other option than to defend ourselves in any part of this country whenever we come under attack again.”
He warned the Federal Government to move fast because a “drastic problem requires a drastic solution, because the state we are gradually gravitating towards, can only remind us of the events that lead to the last civil war in 1966.

“Please save this country from imminent danger of a major religious war, which if begins might be too catastrophic for the nation as a whole,” he pleaded with the political class, who he accused of always instigating the unemployed youths of the North to foment trouble.
[size=14pt]“If you love this country so much and you must fight to defend it through religious wars, then bring your children from oversees to carry cudgels, arms and petrol,” Oritsejafor counselled northern politicians[/size] who often capitalize on the mass illiteracy and poverty in the North to mobilise the youth to foment trouble at the slightest provocation.

Stating that enough is enough of this killing in the name of the Lord, he drew attention to the PFN communique which warned against plunging the nation into a religious war that will be difficult to quench, stressing that the current resentment on the part of Christians arises from the fact that nobody has ever been prosecuted for past religious crisis.

“We, therefore, strongly appeal to the Federal Government to, as a first step to the resolution of the protracted crisis, all identified sponsors and perpetrators of past crisis in different parts of the country must now be brought to justice in the interest of peaceful co-existence.
“In addition, all laws in parts of this country that impede people from their constitutional rights to freedom of worship must be abrogated with immediate effect. The right of Nigerians to freedom of faith is clearly spelt out in the 1999 constitution and any other enactment that is contrary to that, especially with regards to indigeneship issues should be immediately expunged from our statutes,” he added.

He said there are ominous signs that all is not well with the state of the nation and “the earlier we do something to tame the orgy of religious intolerance in parts of the North, the better for us all as a nation.”
He stressed that history will hold the current leaders accountable for whatever happens to the corporate existence of the nation, if there is no religious harmony in a secular state like Nigeria. He pointed out that we must stop these killings in the name of religion.

He also recommended that states which play host violent religious riots must be made to rebuild burnt places of worship and pay adequate compensation for lost lives and vandalised business premises.
“A stitch in time,” he said “saves nine. Nigeria reputed to be the most religious nation on earth has played host to the highest number of religious uprisings which have claimed thousands of innocent lives.”
He advocated a return to the moral instructions in schools, pointing out that current acts of cultism at all levels of our educational system in the country was no longer acceptable.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2009/mar/02/national-02-03-2009-03.htm