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Skye Bank Chairman: Boko Haram Has Taken Freedom of Religion Too Far

Skye Bank Plc Senator Iroegbu  The Chairman, Skye Bank Plc, Dr. Olatunde Ayeni, has said the ongoing carnage by members of the outlawed Boko Haram against the citizens of Nigeria in its bid to impose Sharia legal system on the country is as a result of the freedom of religion taken to the extreme, which must be stopped at all cost. Ayeni stated this yesterday in Abuja during his keynote address at the ongoing African Berlin International Conference (ABIC)/ National Defence College Conference (NDC) with a theme: "Revolts and Change, Individual Freedom and National Security, Africa in the Light of Popular Uprisings." He recalled  the ongoing uprising in the Arab world and urged the security agencies to do all it takes to put an end to the Boko Haram insurgency. The entrepreneur also used the opportunity to call on members of the armed forces and other security agencies to change their operational strategy towards defeating the insurgents, asking them to use more intelligence than physical combat. "My advise to the military is to deploy intelligence instead of the road blocks we have all over Abuja, it is not convenient even though it is serving a purpose," he said. Quoting Odomovo S. Afeno, he added: "The Nigerian government emphasises physical security through the presence of military, police, and intelligence agents, and pays minimal attention to human development issues, which are essential for sustainable national security."Ayeni stressed that the agitation of the outlawed sect is a form of religious extremism that could destroy the country if unchecked. He said: "The outbreak of the Boko Haram insurgency in July 2009 has in no small measure foisted new security challenges on the Nigerian nation, raising critical questions about the real intent of the sect. The Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria paints a picture of the freedom of worship or of religion or of association taken too far-almost to a limitless dimension. "There is no known international charter on human rights, not even the UN charter on human rights that guarantees a limitless personal freedom, knowing full well that a man's rights begins where another man's right ends." "It is indeed foolhardy to contemplate that an individual freedom of worship carried in a manner of sheer violence and rebellion to the state and its national interest as exhibited over time by the insurgents, should subsume the collective rights of the citizenry. A right that is so crafted and so called is indeed no right at all! No individual freedom is superior to the national interest or the collective rights of the citizenry," he noted. Concerning the ongoing threat to African governments and territories, the banker warned that "any change of government that negates the people's choice is a suppression of their right…A democracy where the citizens' loyalty is to one individual and not to national interest, is no democracy. "If people are allowed to exercise their freedom of choice of the leadership they want, the comity of nations would have no need for making donations or aids to ailing nations that are offshoots of dictatorship, tyranny and oppressions; a credible leadership freely chosen by the people will be more disposed to good governance than a leadership foisted on them.  "The contemporary threat of terrorism is testing the capacity of liberal democracies to uphold basic freedoms and the rule of law. It is naturally illogical for an individual good (Individual freedom) to override the common good (national security)", he opened. Earlier, the NDC Commandant, Rear Admiral Patrick Agholor, urged the participants to come up with home-grown solutions towards solving African problems. Agholor advised that it was high time Africans worked out the challenges that were created by the Berlin Conference of 1885 where Africa were partitioned among European colonial powers.

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