Prelate, Methodist Church Nigeria, Dr Sunday Ola Makinde, says the police lack adequate attention to confront the current security challenges in the country.

Insecurity has remained the biggest challenge in the country. What do you think should be done to return normalcy?

I think we should take spiritual angle to it. Let the Christians and Muslims cry unto God to expose those  behind the killings. If the northern leaders do not know them, God will expose them. Let us go back to God who has united us as one nation but what baffles me is that they say they are faceless individuals.

At least they have brothers, sisters and operate from a home or state. To say that they don’t know them is an embarrassment but if they say they do not know them, God knows everyone that He has created. If we cry unto the God of the oppressed, He would come to our rescue.

Let us go the spiritual angle and God would expose the perpetrators and their sponsors, and, again, let the government have the political will to ensure that they pay for their crimes. Government should adequately equip the security agencies as they are not equipped.

The IG has ordered the removal of  checkpoints on the country’s highways but if you go to Lagos-Ibadan express way, it has become a haven for armed robbers. I ply the road always and I have never seen the police patrol vehicles on the road. The police lack patrol vehicles and sophisticated weapons which the armed robbers have.

Let us equip our security operatives with sophisticated communication gadgets and make sure they are well funded; that way, they would perform and the security situation in the country would be better. Nigerian security agents are one of the best in the world but they are under- funded.

Many have expressed the fear that if the menace of Boko Harram is not checked, it might led to religious war in the country. What is your view?

Muslims and Christians have been living together in the country since 1914 and, since we became independent in 1960, we have been living together as brothers and sisters. When leaders like Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Ahmadu Bello and others were there, was there any religious crisis?

Without bringing perpetrators and sponsors of these acts of terrorism to book, justice cannot be seen to have been done which is a big threat to our collective interest as Nigerians in our quest for a united nation. Politicians must watch their utterances and leave religion to religious practitioners and let religious people leave politics to politicians. Politicians are the ones causing religious problems . They are the sponsors . When you can take your religion to the extent of bombing yourself, something is wrong somewhere.

There is nothing wrong in the relationship between the Christians and Muslims. Chief Obafemi Awolowo, a Christian, was the first premier to establish Muslim Pilgrims Board and, up till today, Christians and Muslims are living together in the West and East. We cannot kill ourselves because of religion in the East or in the West because the people are interwoven. Indoctrination is another problem. We should avoid mixing ethnicity with politics and religion with politics.

Would you encourage reprisal killings in the North in response to Boko Haram?

The Christians in the North are not retaliating but defending themselves. The Bible says turn the other cheek when people are persecuting you. We have turned the first and we have turned the second. So, there is no other cheek to turn. So, Christians are now defending themselves; may be that is the only way of sending a clear message that no one has monopoly of aggression.

If they have jihad, we have crusade. Muslims always operate jihad and Christians also operate crusade. I don’t encourage killings in any form but people must defend themselves. A number of innocent Christians lives have been wasted in the last three decades. Akanuga”s head was paraded on the streets of Kaduna. It is not good. When you push people to the wall, what do they do? They fight back.

How do you think Christians and Muslims can live harmoniously in the country?

Let us avoid religious bigotry and stop mixing religion with politics. Let us continue with what our founding fathers gave to us. Though tongues and tribes may differ, in brotherhood and sisterhood we stand. No Muslim is my enemy. The Sultan of Sokoto is a friendly person.

This is the kind of leaders we want in Nigeria. Let us see ourselves as brothers and sisters. After all, we all came from one father, Abraham. Isaac came from Abraham and we have Christians, Ismail also came from Him and they are Muslims.

Let me tell you, no one would enter paradise by killing people. Anyone that kills people would enter the hottest part of hell. No body would go to paradise by killing an infidel and nobody is an infidel. We all belong to God.