The President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Bishop Ayo Oritsejafor, has again stated that Boko Haram Islamist sect was created and sponsored by political failures looking for political space in 2015. Oritsejafor maintained that since they realised they had failed to achieve their ulterior motive through the ballot box they decided to vent their anger on Nigerians by seeking to divide Nigeria along religious lines.

“Boko Haram is fueled by extreme religious ideology and not poverty because they have not come out to tell us that they are killing people because they are poor,” he said. The CAN president, who stated this yesterday while speaking at the opening ceremony of a six-day meeting of the Niger Delta Christian Leaders Forum holding in Christian Central Chapel International (CCCI), Calabar, Cross River State capital, said the claim that Boko Haram was a creation of poverty was a lie.

He said “those sponsoring the organisation or its apologists are just misleading Nigerians and the world by saying that Boko Haram members are poor people. The leaders of Boko Harm are from very wealthy family and background and even that young man who wanted to blow up an American airline, his father is a retired permanent secretary and one of the richest men in Nigeria.”

According to the CAN president, “the sponsors of Boko Hram have control of a section of the media through which they feed the public with what he calls half truths.” On the allegations that he is a fundamentalist and partisan leader, the number one Christian said, “it is really misleading and unfortunate because I have never shot a gun before neither have killed anybody before; I have never encouraged anybody to kill anybody before. But what I do is to identify the truth and respond to it because I am not afraid of trouble.”

He said “many people are afraid of trouble that is why they cannot achieve greatness nor speak out when necessary but we have to face up to the reality because the Niger Delta region is a great region on whose pedestal Nigeria is standing to lay claim to greatness.”

The cleric, who spoke in an angry tone stated that, “Niger Delta is a region of great people yet we are poor; the Niger Delta is very small and powerful yet we are weak. This is time for exchange as all those things that have eluded us shall be reclaimed.” In his welcome address, the president and founder of CCCI, Calabar, Bishop Emmah Gospel Isong, said this was the time for all Christians to wake up from slumber and fight terrorism in Nigeria as it was capable of tearing the nation apart.

The PFN chairman, Cross River State, however, called on Nigerians to reject any move by disgruntled persons to cause disharmony among Christians at this auspicious time of national revivals.

http://sunnewsonline.com/new/national/boko-haram-politically-motivated-oritsejafor/

My take: Is Oritsejafor referring to Nuru Ribadu or Mohammed Buhari as the ones behind BH's activities?