Former Nigeria ambassador to Angola Layiwola Laseinde has urged the Federal Government to restrain free-for-all preaching by religious scholars, to end terrorism.
He said by licensing some of those who called themselves religious scholars from Christianity and Islam, a few militant preachers with fundamentalist views would not misinterpret their religions.
Laseinde said: “Documentation of strangers and licensing of preachers (both Muslims and Christians) will prevent a condition, which allows all sorts of people, without adequate knowledge, to take to preaching and converting people to lean towards anti-social behaviour.”
The ex-envoy, who spoke yesterday in Ilorin at the fourth biennial international conference organised by the Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ilorin (Unilorin), with the theme: ‘Rethinking strategic for national and regional security, peace and development’, advised West African countries to coordinate, consult and align on strategies, as many of them faced identical challenges, such as Boko Haram attacks.
Said he: “To deal with terrorism, there is need for the stick and carrot approach. The government must look at the vulnerable segment of the population (youths and the unemployed) and take measures to reduce the attractiveness of terrorists organisations to such vulnerable groups.
“As long as the government allows free-for-all (unchecked) preaching by some of those who call themselves religious scholars, there will always be a tendency for a few militant preachers with fundamentalist views to interpret their religions in such a way as to create discord between the government and the people on the one hand and between religious groups on the other. Consequently, government has to look at a soft approach of dealing with counter-terrorism and extremism.
“Even when the soft approach has been provided, the government still has to take necessary and immediate measures to protect the life and property of the citizens, especially in a situation where insurgents and terrorists kill, maim, rape and destroy villages at will, attacking innocent people who have not opposed them or committed any crime other than to live their lives as law-abiding citizens.
“Consequently, there is need for the use of proportional force to ensure that there is order, rule of law and respect for citizens’ privacy and human rights.”
Laseinde suggested that other African countries besides Nigeria, Cameroon, Benin Republic, Chad and Niger, who were affected by the Boko Haram insurgency, should coordinate military operations.
The former diplomat said: “It is by working together and sharing intelligence, as well as coordinating military operations that insurgency and cross-border crimes can be curbed.”
“In the case of illegal importation of small arms and light weapons, there is even more need for cooperation and coordination by the Customs, Immigration, Police and other security agencies, as these weapons move from country to country through West Africa’s porous borders and are used to perpetrate crimes.”
