Worried by the actions, inactions, and unguarded utterances by some highly placed individuals and ordinary Nigerians, coupled with the poor handling of criminal elements in the country, the Co-Chair Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace, Bishop Dr. Sunday Ndukwo Onuoha, has warned against the invitation of another civil war.
The President, Vision Africa International, who was speaking on the sidelines of security challenges, comments, actions of individuals in the country, called on Nigerians irrespective of the political, religious, and ethnic divide to be careful in drawing lines of argument, stressing that Nigeria is still to recover from the Civil War even after 51 years.
The Global Peace Award Winner, 2013, said he is worried about utterances of individuals in the country including the high and mighty, regretting that such unguarded utterances have the potentials of tearing the country apart from within a twinkle of an eye if the targets react in like manner stating that war-ravaged countries of the world have never told good stories regarding its effects on their economy.
Bishop Dr. Onuoha who recounted in nostalgia, his childhood experiences and pain during the Civil War, revealed that such despicable experiences are ever new in his memory, adding it has made him dislike in it’s entirety, anything that looks like potential war in the country as such will only distabilize the country and relegate to the background, all that past and present leaders have fought so hard to keep.
The Methodist Bishop called on those fueling violence in different parts of Nigeria to shun their actions and toe the path of peace, revealing that absence of peace is inimical to the development of any nation, warning that absence of peace means anarchy just as he stated that any act of violence apart from the ones Nigeria has witnessed including banditry, kidnapping and Boko Haram insurgents will further throw the country in chaos.
Bishop Onuoha charged the Federal Government to fish out criminal elements destroying farmlands, raping women, kidnapping people in different parts of the country, adding that these vices do not in any way represent the traditional cattle farmers known by Nigerians.
He reiterated that Government must, as a matter of urgency, identify unscrupulous elements terrorising the citizenry so as to protect the citizens as they go about their legitimate businesses in different parts of the country, insisting that once injustice and insecurity remain unchecked, people will subscribe to self protection in defending their lands and property.
The outspoken Bishop who is also pained by the level of quit notice(s) given to groups/individuals in some parts of Nigeria, stressed that such notice(s) if not properly handled, is capable of causing a war between groups, urging the Government at all levels to mediate in such situations to forestall a breach of peace in the zone and Nigeria at large.
