The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has challenged President Bola Tinubu to take a tougher stance when issuing orders to the new service chiefs, pointing out that “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.”
Mr Adeboye, who gave the advice on Friday during the November Holy Ghost Service, days after the United States President, Donald Trump, threatened to take military actions to combat violence against Christians in Nigeria, caution Nigerians against placing their hope on China and Russia.
He said, instances abound where some countries placed their hope on other foreign powers but ended being disappointed and later realized that the situation was avoidable. “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.’’
The cleric has been largely criticized for his double standard posture towards the present administration of Tinubu, who is of Yoruba origine as him, with most Nigerians accusing him of turning blind eyes on issues he openly rebuked during the administration of former President Good Luck Jonathan
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.”
He recounted his advise to former President Mohammadu Buhari, which were not taken.
He said. “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?”
Mr Adeboye called on President Tinubu and his administration to commit to wiping out bandits, saying Tinubu should seek a 100-day timeframe with Mr Trump to tackle Nigeria’s insecurity.
“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.”
