Buhari Govt Writes British Parliament Over ‘Persecution’ Of Nigerian Christians

The Federal Government of Nigeria led by President Muhammadu Buhari has rejected claims by Northern Christian Elders Forum that the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration was practicing bigotry and isolating Christians in Nigeria.

Naija News reports that the Nigerian Government gave this response in a letter to the British Parliamentary Group, which was signed by Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, George Adetola Oguntade.

A statement issued by Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to the President, said two letters were addressed to Rt Rev’d Philip Mounstephen, a former secretary of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and now Head, “Independent Review of Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Support of Persecuted Christians, “and Baroness Berridge, the Chair of “All Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief.”

The Nigerian government in the correspondences, dismissed as inconceivable and outrightly false, allusions to the effect that the Boko Haram terrorism served a government agenda against Christians.

“It would be useful for me to engage with this process to ensure that you are thoroughly briefed on the situation in Nigeria”, the High Commissioner wrote in the correspondences.

Oguntade, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, while responding to the interim report on Foreign and Commonwealth Office Support for Persecuted Christians, told Rev. Mounstephen: “The safety and security of all Nigerians, whatever their faith, is a fundamental priority of the Buhari Government. The government knows that Nigeria can only achieve its potential if there is religious tolerance and cooperation.”

Justice Oguntade explained that President Buhari’s deputy is a Pastor, adding that the President “has befriended Church leaders and church groups both within and outside Nigeria.”

The High Commissioner added that the President’s cabinet is balanced between Muslims and Christians, noting that he himself was a former Chancellor of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion).

He noted that Vice President Osinbajo has maintained regular contacts with Christian and Muslim leaders as part of efforts to build and sustain interfaith dialogue.

Stressing that the country’s security challenges had no ethnic and religious colourations, Justice Oguntade said the farmers/herders clashes predated the Buhari administration, noting that such clashes bordered on the desire for pasture by the herders and the desire to protect crops from encroachment and destruction by the farmers.

The High Commissioner explained that these clashes had a long history and the Buhari administration is taking a major step to address the root cause of these crises and violent clashes pitting Muslim and Christian farmers alike against the herders.

His words: “the issue of grazing routes is historically central to these conflicts and the Buhari administration is taking a holistic approach to the matter with a view to ending it once and for all so that Nigerians can live in peace with one another.”

The High Commissioner, therefore, assured the international community that the Buhari Administration would ensure that “the competition over scarce land is resolved peacefully for the benefits of all parties.”

Buhari government also rejected attempts by the reporting group to link Boko Haram terrorism with official policy, stating clearly that these violent acts by the terrorist group predated the Buhari administration, like many others that were inherited on coming to office in 2015.

Justice Oguntade said criminal groups such as the Boko Haram terrorists who kill Muslims and Christians do not represent Muslims.

“Boko Haram is a murderous death cult whose savagery has destroyed thousands of lives.

“The Government is totally dedicated to eradicating their stain from our land.

“Since the Buhari administration has been in power, Boko Haram has been significantly degraded – with the support and assistance of the UK Government. We shall not rest until this mission is completed and the people of North East Nigeria – both Christians and Muslims – can live in peace again, “The Nigerian High Commissioner to the UK added.

The two letters were each accompanied by a copy of an opinion article signed by the President and published on November 30, 2018, by London-based “Church Times,” entitled: DON’T POLITICISE RELIGION IN NIGERIA.

In the article, the President, among other things, said Muslims and Christians can flourish together.

“These two great religions (Islam and Christianity) can not only peacefully coexist but flourish together. But we must first turn to one another in compassion. For as Amos teaches us: “Do two walk together unless they have agreed to meet?”.

“We must resist the temptation to retreat into our communities because if we do, our palette of possibilities will remain primary. It is only when we mix them together that we can imagine new and greater possibilities.

“As our constitution spells out, politicizing religion should have no place in Nigeria. However, it is all the more reprehensible when in doing so; it feeds fears and plays to man’s baser instincts.

“For it makes us turn away from one another; it makes us retreat into our communities and walk different paths, and it blinds us to each other’s God-given dignity, ” the President said in the article published in Church Times.”