Former President Goodluck Jonathan has condemned the present administration’s military actions in tackling militancy in the Niger Delta region.
The former President also declared that the solution to the Niger Delta crisis was already included in the report of the 2014 National Conference, held in Abuja.
He contended that military action would not solve the agitation in the region, stressing that it would create secessionist groups in the region.
Jonathan, in his presentation to the United States House Sub-Committee on Africa, on Wednesday, said failure to apprehend culprits of previous religious killings had emboldened those who engaged in such acts.
A copy of the presentation was made available to The PUNCH on Thursday in Abuja by the former President’s media aide, Ikechukwu Eze.
In his presentation, he grouped sensitive issues the sub-committee invited him to speak on as ‘Challenges facing Nigerian Christians and the Niger Delta Question’.
Advising the Federal Government on religious killings in the country, he said Nigeria could no longer ignore conflicts going on in various parts of the country.
Jonathan added, “If, as a nation, we do not kill religious persecution and extremism, then religious persecution and extremism will kill Nigeria.
“The potential danger associated with the level of conflicts going on across the country is so glaring that no sane mind can ignore.”
He noted that security agencies had a history of failing to apprehend the culprits.
Jonathan stated, “Your invitation (of the sub-committee) letter profusely highlighted the issues of the killing of Christians in Nigeria, the last major incident being the recent killings in Southern Kaduna in Kaduna State, and I do not need to elaborate on that.
“The challenge is how we stop that from recurring. How do we ensure that Christians and Muslims co-exist peacefully in Nigeria and practise their religions freely without discrimination, molestation and killings?”
He stated that although there had been more than 10 major incidents of ethnic and religious violence in Kaduna State since 1992, only in one were the culprits punished.
This, the former President said, was in Zango Kataf, when the Ibrahim Babangida administration sentenced 14 persons to death over the riot in the area.
Jonathan said he supported the recommendation of the 2014 National Conference that an Equity Commission be created to handle religious crisis.
Quoting the report of the conference, he stated, “In view of the fact that religion plays a vital role in many aspects of our national life, especially in the aspect of national security and national unity, it is highly imperative that it be singled out from other fundamental rights and given a special attention via the creation of an Equity Commission whose sole mandate will be to focus on religious rights and their promotion.
“This is in line with best global practices as many advanced democracies have special legal and institutional arrangements for some very sensitive aspects of their national life.”
Jonathan believed that the establishment of specialised agencies, such as the equity commission, would not be out of place, adding that they existed in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States.
The former President said that for example, in the UK despite the existence of the UK Equal Opportunities Commission, a Commission for Racial Equality (created by the Race Relations Act, 1976) existed alongside the UK-EOC for many years.
He stated that despite the existence of the US State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, America had other special human rights enforcement agencies to promote specific rights.
Jonathan stated, “I totally agree with the 2014 National Conference on the need to establish the Religious Equity Commission that will have powers to arrest and prosecute those who contravene the law.”
He said his government established 12 federal universities, nine of which were located in the North.
According to him, his administration set up 165 elementary and high schools in each of the 19 northern states to combine Islamic education with western education.
He explained that he personally visited the scene of the bombing at St Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, where Boko Haram killed 44 people on December 31, 2011.
He recalled that he promised Nigerians that those responsible for that heinous act would be brought to book.
“That promise was fulfilled on December 20, 2013, when Kabiru Umar, aka Kabiru Sokoto, was sentenced to life imprisonment after my administration investigated that crime, identified him as the mastermind, arrested him and diligently prosecuted him and some of his associates,” Jonathan added.
Defending his administration, he said, “The point I want to emphasise by citing these incidents is that my administration had the political will to halt impunity in Nigeria and that is why killings, due to religious extremism, were localised in the North-East with occasional killings in other zones of the North.
“The killings did not spread to the mainly Christian south and I believe that the fight against impunity by my administration was the main reason for this.”
To end the ethnic and religious conflicts in Nigeria, he stated, “I recommend the establishment of the Religious Equity Commission, enforcement of our laws without fear or favour and maximum cooperation by all Nigerians, especially our revered religious leaders and clerics.”
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