Cardinal John Onaiyekan Speaks On Boko Haram Issues

 

 

The Nigerian government now must deal with a number of questions about lack of protection provided to country's students, following yet another deadly attack on a college in north-eastern Yobe state. In the latest attack, militants stormed an unprotected agricultural college at night, killing dozens of students in their sleep.
Earlier this year, a state of emergency has been imposed in a number of north-eastern provinces, as a means to curb the activities of the dreaded Boko Haram Islamist sect.
Cardinal John Onaiyekan, who heads the diocese of Abuja in central Nigeria, and is in Rome for a three-day interfaith conference entitled “The courage of hope: religions and cultures in dialogue,” gave an interview to the Vatican Radio.
He expressed hope that the fatal Boko Haram attacks would be put to an end soon, and of the importance of supporting religious leaders across the world as they work towards peace.
"As far as dialogue among religions is concerned, in view of peace, I want to say two things," the Cardinal said.
"The first is that there has been a poor historical record of relations between Christians and Muslims. Our religions have been used in the past centuries for wars. It is necessary to say it loud and clear: we are now in a new era. Vatican II already moved in this direction. We thank God for Vatican II, but unfortunately it was a Catholic Council, the Muslims were not there. Those Muslims who agree with the Pope should not simply agree with the Pope for having said a nice thing. They should actually go out themselves and say it loud and clear to those whom they lead, because this is where we should be going. We know too that if Christians and Muslims agreed on this, world peace would be easier to achieve.
"There is a second point that we need to make: we have seen the efforts of humanity to install peace in the world, but something is missing – namely, a spiritual dimension. Religious leaders have to come in at the highest level of world peace making. […] If the international community gave a little bit of support to encourage religious leaders all over the world, wherever there are crises, to meet the belligerents, I think a lot of progress would be made," Onaiyekan concluded.