BY PETER OKUTU

ABAKALIKI – CATHOLIC Bishops in the country, weekend, warned the Federal Government against initiating any form of dialogue or amnesty with the sect identified as Boko Haram, describing such move as “a time bomb in our community”.

They called on government to vigorously address the task of protecting lives and property of Nigerians adding that the problem of security was currently compounded by the escalation of suicide bombing across the nation by Boko Haram sect.

This was part of the communiqué issued at the end of the second plenary meeting of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, CBCN, held at the Bishop Thomas McGetrick Pastoral Centre, Abakaliki.

According to the Communiqué signed by Archbishop of Ibadan, Bishop Felix Alaba Job and Bishop of Abeokuta, Alfred Wale Martin, the Bishops stated that the sect which had international links with other terrorist groups, demonstrated their mindlessness and impunity by bombing the United Nations building in Abuja in August, among other acts of terrorism.

It read: “we therefore commend government reaching out in dialogue to aggrieved communities to restore justice and promote peace. But we urge government to beware of undertaking any dialogue or amnesty with unrepentant and faceless criminals and murderers of innocent citizens.

This would only be a time bomb in our community.

“The Nigeria Islamic Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, NSCIA, has openly disassociated itself from the Boko Haram and condemned their terrorist activities, stating that such violence cannot be justified by the teaching of Islam. We commend this bold and courageous step to summon their members to reason and to order.

“We are very concerned about the return of crisis in Jos and the persistence in Borno state. We call on both the Federal and the State governments to identify and deal comprehensively with such fundamental issues as ownership of land, pastoralists/farmers relationship, youth restiveness, indigeneship, settler problem and failure to implement previous reports of inquiries”

The Bishops also identified selfishness and greed among political office holders as major factors responsible for the current economic melt-down, political upheavals and social dysfunction presently affecting the nation.

They called on leaders to renew their vision for a greater Nigeria even as they observed that through good governance and honest labours as well as peace and unity, the country would be purged of every form of instability and be repositioned for greater productivity.