IBADAN – Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, and the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, have asked Nigerians to unite against extremism in the country.
Their reactions came against the backdrop of threats by the US President, Donald Trump, to take military action on the country, following alleged genocide against Christian in Nigeria.
Oba Ladoja, who spoke while playing host to President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, Bishop Wale Oke, in his palace weekend, said the time for Nigerians to jointly fight terrorism to a standstill and placate the aggrieved had come.
In a statement by Adeola Oloko, the media aide to the Olubadan of Ibadanland, the monarch noted that it had been over a decade, specifically, since the twilight of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in 2014, that Nigeria had been battling with the scourge of terrorism.
“Many people have been killed, and property worth an inestimable amount of money destroyed. Multitudes of families, particularly women and children, have been displaced.
“Kidnappings have taken place. Successive administrations have spent trillions to fight insecurity. When you look at this scenario over the past ten years, people are bound to feel aggrieved and resort to self-help.
“Former President Jonathan has tried. Former President Muhammadu Buhari has tried. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is trying. But I want to caution that terrorists don’t know the difference between Muslims and Christians. They see everybody as prey, while they are the predator.
“This is why, as the President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, a constituent part of CAN, we are appealing to you to please help us to placate our Christian brethren who are understandably aggrieved that these times will pass.”
Oba Ladoja stated that in South-Western Nigeria, where he was more familiar, people from different religious backgrounds enjoyed harmonious relationships, wondering why such a display of love was hard to come by in other parts of the country.
He said majority of Nigerians wanted the scourge of terrorism to be fought to a standstill, but was not excited about the prospect of United States’ involvement in the internal affairs of Nigeria, except through collaboration.
Nigeria’s crisis, a battle against extremists — Soyinka
On his part, Prof. Soyinka in an interview with Democracy Now, said Trump’s sweeping statements distorted the true picture of the conflict and risked deepening religious hostilities.
He said the situation should not be seen as a war between Christians and Muslims, but as a struggle against extremist groups that had weaponised religion for political and economic gain.
He said: “We must separate Nigeria’s long-standing internal problems from President Trump’s recent response.”
Soyinka recalled the brutal lynching of a student accused of blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad, noting that her killers went unpunished, despite being caught on video bragging about the act.
