LAGOS – Prof. Bolaji Akinyyemi, former Minister of External Affairs has said that anyone doubting of Christian genocide in Nigeria should go and live in Plateau or Benue State for 100 days and come back and give report.
Bolaji who spoke on Arise TV on Tuesday also warned that Nigeria shouldn’t think of going to confront the most powerful man in the world, stressing that the country will suffer the consequences if she does.
He noted that people should disregard the word that President Donald Trump used but should concentrate on the issue he raised, pointing out that Christians are being killed but they’re not being killed by fellow Christians but by Muslims and also that Muslims are being killed but not by Christians but by Muslims.
He noted that the government should take the advice given by Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in addressing the issue.
Speaking further he said, “Let’s not adopt a legal approach to the definition of genocide. If you come to Lagos and kill 1,000 people, people will say, by the Geneva Convention, that’s really not genocide. 1,000 people, when there are millions of people in Lagos. If you go to my village and kill 1,000 people, there’re probably going to be only five people left, and that will be genocide. So, it’s a common sense definition which we adopt in dealing with this matter of genocide in Nigeria.
“If you live in the Middle Belt you’ll agree that there’s genocide. If there’re people who say there’s no genocide in Nigeria, I would suggest they go and live in the Middle Belt, in Plateau, Jos or Benue, for 100 days, and then they’ll come back to your programme and tell their experience. People who say that Muslims are not being killed, to come to Sokoto, to Zamfara, or the North, spend two days there and come back to your programme and say that there’s no killing.
“Why would any Nigerian leave his village and go and live in an Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp? I accessed those IDP camps when I was serving on the Boko Haram Committee. For God’s sake, even the hygiene there won’t encourage you to send anyone there. In fact it’s better to send your enemy to prison than to send them to an IDP camp. So, why would a Nigerian go to an IDP camp? Why would a Nigerian abandon his farm, which is the mainstay for sustaining his family, if he’s not afraid that he’ll be attacked and be killed on that farm? So, let’s pardon Trump for the bombastic language that we know Trump is used to.
“But the basic questions we should be asking ourselves are, are Nigerians getting killed in Nigeria? And the answer is yes. Let’s not get into a religious civil war. It’s not a question of whether Christians are getting killed or Muslims are getting killed. Christians are getting killed, but they’re getting killed by Muslims, not by fellow Christians. Muslims are getting killed, not by Christians, but by fellow Muslims.
“And to me, the most sensible statement I have had on this question within our circle in Nigeria is that by Pastor Adeboye, who has said that our own president should approach Trump and tell him what he intends to do, and ask him for a hundred days to prove that he can tackle the situation that is at hand.
“Because we mustn’t deceive ourselves. After how many years has the Nigerian government enjoyed the Tinubu administration? The same goes all the way back to the Chibok girls under Jonathan’s administration. Has the Nigerian government, shown its capability?”
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