Anglican Bishop to Boko Haram: Unmask before seeking amnesty

Akure — newly-installed Bishop of Akure Diocese Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Reverend Simeon Borokini, yesterday, challenged members of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, to unmask first before amnesty could be discussed.
Borokini argued that as long as they remained faceless, “it will be difficult for the Federal Government to offer amnesty to a faceless group.
He, however, decried the level of insecurity brought about by the activities of the group on Nigerians. The clergyman, who was installed as the new bishop of the diocese last week, said: “The people should come out and show their faces as this would aid meaningful dialogue that anybody may want to have with them.”
While regretting that many lives had been lost to the activities of the group, he asked government to take a decisive step to stop the group from further killing of Nigerians.
Borokini called for a change in the priorities set by Nigerian leaders, noting that this had affected the peace of the country.
He said: “The peace in the country has been affected by the priorities set by the leaders and the people. The country’s priority has been wrongly set because God has been neglected for crude oil, materialism and worldliness which have resulted in insecurity in Nigeria.”
He said the church would revamp its prison ministry and hospital outreaches to further give hope to the people as part of his plan for the Diocese.
Borokini said a chaplain would be appointed to take charge of the frontier ministry to preach the message of hope to the prisoners as they needed to be encouraged.
He promised to strive to create a conducive spiritual and enabling environment that would lead to the unity of members of the diocese, saying “we have an enormous task ahead of us, we must build our broken walls.
“We must come together as one. United we stand as a family and divided we fall. Akure Anglican diocese is one.”
… as Yoruba Unity Forum says amnesty encourages insurgency
By OLA AJAYI
IBADAN—Yoruba Unity Forum, YUF, has warned the Federal Government not to grant amnesty without condition to the violent Islamist sect, Boko Haram, as being demanded by Northern leaders.
Publicity Secretary of YUF, Dr. Kunle Olajide, argued that granting unconditional amnesty to the sect would be tantamount to encouragement of insurgency.
It would be recalled that recently the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, called on the Federal Government to grant amnesty to the sect to allow peace to reign in the country.
The call had generated mixed reactions by many Nigerians with majority of them telling the government to refuse granting amnesty to the group that had engaged in senseless killings of innocent Nigerians.
While speaking with Vanguard, yesterday, the former Secretary -General of the Yoruba Council of Elders, who said he was expressing personal views, insisted that the request of the Northern leaders must not be granted if they do not agree to the convocation of a national conference.
He said: “If they are granted amnesty without the convocation of national conference, other groups could spring up believing they too would be granted amnesty.
“So if they don’t agree to the constitution of national conference, they should not be given amnesty. It would mean encouraging insurgency.”
“The Federal Government should do everything possible to stop these senseless killings and shedding of innocent blood.”