The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has accused the President, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Samson Ayokunle, of defending Berom Christians over the Dura-Du pond incident.
The body spoke in reaction to Ayokunle’s comment after the car of a missing retired general, Idris Alkali, was found at the bottom of the pond by the army.
In a press statement signed by its director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, MURIC on Wednesday, said CAN president failed to condemn “Berom Christian terrorists”, who it alleged knew about how the car submerged.
It reads: “Why can’t CAN condemn Berom terrorists the same way that Muslims condemned Boko Haram? Nigerian Muslims washed their hands off Boko Haram terrorists even when they attacked Christians. We did not wait until they attacked Muslims before condemning them.
“But CAN president wants to pamper Berom Christian terrorists even when it is evident that they have been responsible for the killing of hundreds of their Muslim neighbours and other Muslims and Fulanis who were mere travelers passing through the axis.
“Nigerian security agencies were able to encircle Boko Haram terrorists and they were able to restrict their activities to a small area within Borno because Nigerian Muslims wasted no time in denouncing and disowning them. For failing to condemn Berom terrorists, CAN president may be nurturing a killing machine. Berom terrorists are capable of growing into a more vicious terrorist group whose deadly tentacles will spread to all nooks and cranies of Nigeria.
“CAN president is joining forces with Berom women who protested that soldiers should not come near the pond. The women lied that it was their only source of drinking water when there are more than thirty similar ponds around the vicinity. When that failed to stop the soldiers, they tried the superstition angle claiming that strange deaths would start to occur in the community if the pond was drained but this is a community of Christians, not one filled with idol worshippers.
“What has CAN president said about the missing general? What has he to say about the general’s car that was found right at the bottom of the same pond where the wives of terrorists protested deceptively? What of the other four cars that were found inside the same pond? What do the findings mean to him?
“Furthermore, Ayodele was quick to condemn the action of security agents but found it difficult to condemn the Berom Christian terrorists who perpetrated the atrocity. It is double standard of the highest order. We are stupefied.
“To add salt to injury, CAN president referred to the missing general as “a missing ex-soldier”. That is an unforgivable understatement. Ayokunle should know that General Alkali (rtd) is more than an ordinary ex-soldier. This is a whole army general for crying out loud and he dismisses him as “a missing ex-soldier”. General Alkali was the Chief of Administration in the Nigerian Army up till the time of his retirement. We take exception to this attempt to trivialize the issue.
“Afterall, we know how CAN regularly mobilizes retired Christian army officers to intimidate the entire nation. While we find no need to do the same thing with retired Muslim officers, we are worried that the CAN president attempted to equate the general with an ordinary recruit.
“Berom community has taken on Nigerian Muslims. They stop vehicles on the highways, pull out Fulanis and Muslims in such vehicles and kill them. Their vehicles are dumped in the ponds. Another 18-seater bus was found at the bottom of the Dura-Du pond yesterday. Anybody can guess the whereabouts of the occupants. There is no gainsaying at this point that Nigerian Muslims need protection from Berom Christian cannibals.”