By Evelyn Okakwu
The conveners and members of Inter-Faith Activity and Partnership for Peace (IFAPP), a national platform for interfaith dialogue among Muslim and Christian clerics and leaders, have expressed distress and alarm over the bomb explosion perpetrated by suspected Boko Haram sect on Monday, April 14, 2014, in Nyanya, which killed more than 72 people with over 250 others injured.
In a statement issued on Monday and signed by the joint conveners, Malam Nuruddeen Lemu and Rev. Fr. George Ehusani, IFAPP said the attack shows that the “Nigerian government is not doing enough to protect public places where large number of its ordinary citizens routinely gather.
It urged the Federal Government and its security agencies not only to investigate the deplorable incidents and make those responsible, especially their sponsors, face the full weight of the law, but also to take more effective measures to prevent them.
It noted that the current situation in which a hugely disproportionate percentage of the security forces are deployed to protect the few member of the political and business elite while the security needs of the overwhelming majority of Nigerians are left unattended to, is patently callous, unjust and ultimately a threat to the peace and safety of everyone, including the governing elite.
IFAPP urged members of Boko Haram, their supporters, financiers and sympathisers to put an immediate stop to all attacks on defenseless and innocent Nigerians, as such actions cannot produce any positive outcome or lead to the resolution of any of their grievances.
“We commiserate with the victims and their families, especially those who lost their loved ones. Our prayers are with the victims and their loved ones. May God heal, console and comfort them all”.
IFAPP also reiterated its willingness to “continue to work hard at both national and sub-national levels for the peaceful coexistence of religious groups in Nigeria through an integrated set of educational and advocacy programmes, projects and initiatives that will enlighten adherents of both faiths, diffuse tension and promote peace.”
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