By  OLA AJAYI

IBADAN—PRIMATE of Methodist Church, Nigeria, Bishop Ola Makinde, has described as disappointing a call by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar, on the Federal Government to grant total amnesty to the Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

Bishop Mankinde who spoke at the Holy Communion service of the 51st annual synod of the Methodist Church, Ekotedo, Ibadan, weekend, said he was surprised at the comments by the Sultan.

Taking exception to the call, Bishop Makinde said it would be misleading for the Sultan to liken Boko Haram to the Niger Delta militants, saying “how can you grant amnesty to a faceless group or a set of criminals? Traditional and spiritual leaders should be custodians of morality in the land. What is Boko Haram for? Are they fighting for groundnut or cow resource control?

He enlightened the Islamic leader saying in the case of the Niger Delta militants, they were fighting for attention after their whole land had been totally destroyed as a result of oil spillage.

But, in the case of Boko Haram, he noted it was totally unacceptable and annoying to ask for amnesty for them having killed, maimed and shed blood of innocent people, mostly Christians.

He said: “I am disappointed in the statement credited to the Sultan of Sokoto that terrorists should be granted amnesty. I wonder why the Sultan believes they can achieve this when they have killed so many Christians with so many churches destroyed. He wants amnesty for criminals? The Quran will not support granting amnesty to criminals.

“We must be very careful that we don’t have religious war in this country. You can imagine it is being revealed that 83 per cent of the oil blocs are owned by the northerners. They want political and economic powers combined.”

On corruption, he said: “Unless there is a change of attitude starting from home, corruption will not end. Unless we bring God into our educational system, corruption cannot be stamped out. Unless we have god-fearing leaders, corruption cannot be stopped.”