The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has urged President Bola Tinubu to give the new service chiefs a three-month deadline to eliminate terror groups and their sponsors.
The cleric gave the advice on Friday, during the November Holy Ghost Service, days after the United States President, Donald Trump, considered deploying troops to Nigeria to combat terrorists allegedly targeting Christians.
Mr Adeboye stated, “When giving orders to the service chiefs this time round, we should make it clear to them that they are not only to eliminate the terrorists but also their sponsors, no matter how influential they may be.”
Recounting his effort on the country’s insecurity, the cleric faulted the former administration’s inability to follow-up his admonition for a decisive wipe-out of the terror groups.
Mr Adeboye said, “Some of you will remember who called the service chiefs together and said, ‘I give you three months, get rid of all these Boko Haram people or resign.”
He added, “He ran with that advice, but he didn’t follow it through, because he gave the order as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and the security operatives moved fast.”
“But three months went by, and the work was not done. So, I went to see him. It wasn’t unusual. This time, somehow, the press got to know that I visited him. Of course, they were not there when we talked. Unfortunately, like I said, he’s not alive now. I would have asked you to go and ask him, ‘Sir, why didn’t you follow through?”
Cautioning that Nigeria could face dire consequences if decisive action was delayed, Mr Adeboye warned that China, Russia and other states around the world would be unable to help if the U.S. invaded.
He said, “When I say our leaders should move fast, move diplomatically, and move wisely, we must take note of the fact that if America should attack us, China is not coming to defend us. Russia will not come to defend us.
“All the so-called world leaders will talk, they will condemn what America has done in the strongest terms, that’s all they will do. Britain is not going to come and help us. No other foreign power will come to our aid. This is not the time for joking. This is not the time for drama. This is not the time for semantics. This is not the time to begin to argue, is it suicide or kidnapping or whatever name they call it? And this is not the time to say, ‘Ah, it’s not Christians alone, Muslims are also involved.’ The point is, people are dying. Innocent people are dying.’’
Mr Adeboye called on President Tinubu and his administration to commit to wiping out bandits.
Suggesting the use of diplomacy, the cleric urged Mr Tinubu to seek a 100-day timeframe with Mr Trump to tackle Nigeria’s insecurity.
He stated, “Let the government use diplomatic methods to convince President Trump to give us 100 days of grace. All our service chiefs, fortunately, are new, should perform within three months, or resign.”
Earlier, Mr Trump expressed concern over the alleged killing of Christians in Nigeria.
Mr Trump stated that his administration would do all within its means to protect the Christian population in Nigeria and elsewhere.
