The call by the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, for the United States of America to declare the dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram, as a terrorist sect was condemned by many Muslims and a few Northern Christians.
But the former Minister of Aviation, Mr Femi Fani-Kayode thinks otherwise.
Newsmen gathered that he said those accusing Pastor Oritsejafor of trying to divide Nigeria "are misguided and insincere."
Pastor Oritsejafor has appeared at an American congressional hearing where he urged the United States congress to blacklist the group, because of its deadly activities.
Defending the CAN president, Fani-Kayode said he represents every Christian in Nigeria just as the Sultan of Sokoto represents every Muslim.
“I believe that we must all show him far more respect than we are doing and that we should appreciate his efforts rather than condemn him at every turn,” he said.
To the former minister, it is absurd for anyone to complain about the fact that Oritsejafor is doing his job and seeking to protect the lives and property of the Christian community in Nigeria by creating international awareness about Boko Haram.
“We must also condemn in the strongest terms those that wish to compel us to silently and stoically accept their terror and not express our outrage and pain about it. They cannot silence us with their insults, their aggression and their threats,” he said.
Fani-Kayode added: "If Boko Haram is not a terrorist organisation, then they should tell us what it is.
This is an organisation that k*lls women, children and defenceless people in the privacy of their own homes, churches and offices.
“This is an organisation that has k*lled many of our security personnel and attacked many of our cities and public institutions including media houses and the U.N. Headquarters in Nigeria.
This is an organisation that has k*lled more Nigerians than any other since the civil war.
“This is an organisation that is committed to wiping out Christianity in northern Nigeria, establishing a Muslim fundamentalist state on our soil, to kill as many muslims that don’t share their own interpretation and understanding of Islam as possible, to divide and balkanise our nation and to wash her from head to toe in blood.
“This is the sort of organisation that some people are defending and protecting? This is the sort of organisation that they will claim is not or should not be labelled as a terrorist organisation? And if they are not terrorists, what would they call them? Angels or boy scouts?
