UK jihadists among the 'most vicious and vociferous fighters' in the world

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">British extremists are among the most ‘most vicious and vociferous fighters’ in the Islamic State's ranks in Syria and Iraq, a jihadism expert has said.</span></h1> <div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Sunni Muslims from the UK are taking part in the conflicts ‘in every way’, according to Shiraz Maher, from King's College London's International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">That includes acting as suicide bombers and executioners, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme after the video purporting to show James Foley's beheading by a British IS fighter emerged online.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> <div class="clear" style="border: 0px !important; clear: both; float: none !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: auto;"> </div> <div class="artSplitter" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="splitLeft" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="image-wrap" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Daniel Pearl" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="30" height="423" id="i-d1f0e5e1b54c589d" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/20/article-2729287-004ADD2800000258-756_306x423.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="306" /></span><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;"> <div class="mobile-gallery-icon" style="background-image: url(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/furniture/mobile/icon_camera_90x68.png); background-position: 10px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 27px; box-sizing: content-box; display: table-cell; float: none; height: 20px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 7px 10px 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 24px;"> </div> <span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+33</span></span></div> </div> </div> <div class="splitRight" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="image-wrap" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="31" height="423" id="i-ab2378a1f6a30ccc" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/20/article-2729287-004E036E00000258-210_306x423.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="306" /></span><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;"> <div class="mobile-gallery-icon" style="background-image: url(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/furniture/mobile/icon_camera_90x68.png); background-position: 10px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 27px; box-sizing: content-box; display: table-cell; float: none; height: 20px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 7px 10px 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 24px;"> </div> <span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+33</span></span></div> </div> </div> <div class="clear" style="border: 0px !important; clear: both; float: none !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: auto;"> </div> <div class="imageCaption" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Death: US reporter Daniel Pearl (left) was murdered in Pakistan by British-born Islamic militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh (right)</span></div> </div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mr Foley is the second American journalist killed by a Islamist terrorist. Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was murdered by British born Omar Saeed Sheikh in Pakistan in 2002.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The black-clothed and masked man, who speaks with a London accent, threatened bloodshed in the gruesome video, speaking with confidence of when he accuses America of plotting against Muslims and interfering in their affairs, before taking a knife to his victim's throat.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If it is confirmed, as it appears, that he is British he will be seen as the most extreme example yet of a fighter travelling from the UK to take part in brutal violence as a member of ISIS.</span></div> <div class="clear" style="border: 0px !important; clear: both; float: none !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: auto;"> </div> <div class="artSplitter" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="image-wrap" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Allegiance: A member loyal to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant waves an ISIS flag in Raqqa" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="32" height="411" id="i-9f993405924903ae" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/20/article-2729287-20A7073E00000578-367_634x411.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></span><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;"> <div class="mobile-gallery-icon" style="background-image: url(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/furniture/mobile/icon_camera_90x68.png); background-position: 10px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 27px; box-sizing: content-box; display: table-cell; float: none; height: 20px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 7px 10px 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 24px;"> </div> <span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+33</span></span></div> </div> <div class="imageCaption" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Allegiance: A member loyal to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant waves an ISIS flag in Raqqa</span></div> <div class="imageCaption" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> </div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mr. Maher, a senior research fellow at ICSR, told Today: ‘Unfortunately the British participation in the conflicts now raging in both Syria and Iraq has been has been one of full participation, one that has seen them at the front lines, taking part in the conflict in every way.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">‘So we have seen British fighters out there operating as suicide bombers, we have seen them operating as executioners.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">‘Unfortunately they are amongst some of the most vicious and vociferous fighters who are out there. That is unfortunately just a part of their radicalization.’</span></div> </div>

UK jihadists among the 'most vicious and vociferous fighters' in the world

British extremists are among the most ‘most vicious and vociferous fighters’ in the Islamic State's ranks in Syria and Iraq, a jihadis...

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Chibok girls fingered as suicide bombers

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The delay in freeing the over 200 girls seized from Government Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno State, may have exposed them to radicalisation by their captors, who are now using them for suicide bombings, a source told Sunday Vanguard at the weekend.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The source spoke about the possibility that the girls had been indoctrinated by the terrorists in the last three months of their captivity, hynotised and sent into various parts of Nigeria and beyond with a view to carrying out deadly missions.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Serial attacks carried out by female bombers in Kano, last week, lent credence to the claim.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The source, who has contacts with the Boko Haram leadership, pointed out that it may be difficult to change  radical orientation of the girls, who may now see their malevolent disposition as an act of righteousness.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </div> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_444980" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 422px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="A screengrab taken on May 12, 2014, from a video of Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram obtained by AFP shows girls, wearing the full-length hijab and praying in an undisclosed rural location. Boko Haram released a new video on claiming to show the missing Nigerian schoolgirls, alleging they had converted to Islam and would not be released until all militant prisoners were freed. A total of 276 girls were abducted on April 14 from the northeastern town of Chibok, in Borno state, which has a sizeable Christian community. Some 223 are still missing. " class="size-full wp-image-444980" height="250" src="http://dvsl3w2q45hb8.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/BringBackOurGirls6.jpg" style="box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.247059) 1px 1px 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="412" /></span><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 8px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A screengrab taken on May 12, 2014, from a video of Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram obtained by AFP shows girls, wearing the full-length hijab and praying in an undisclosed rural location. Boko Haram released a new video on claiming to show the missing Nigerian schoolgirls, alleging they had converted to Islam and would not be released until all militant prisoners were freed. A total of 276 girls were abducted on April 14 from the northeastern town of Chibok, in Borno state, which has a sizeable Christian community. Some 223 are still missing.</span></div> </div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />“It may shock you to know that some of the girls being used for suicide bombings in parts of the North are among those taken from Chibok in April this year,” the source said.</span><br /> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Continuing, the source insisted that “it is rather unfortunate that government wasted precious time in rescuing the girls either through negotiation with Boko Haram or other means possible.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“It was clear from the outset that the girls would not come out the same, after being kept with their unwanted hosts for a long time”.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Although the Federal Government said, last Wednesday, that the Chibok girls were not among the female bombers, its spokesman did not provide any evidence to prove his claim.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">At a media briefing in Abuja, Coordinator<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />of the National Information Centre, Mr. Mike Omeri, tried to ward off the suggestion that the 219 school girls currently in the captivity of Boko Haram insurgents could have turned suicide bombers.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It will be recalled that few days after the abduction of the girls, a human rights activist,  who had taken part in failed bids to broker a truce between the Federal Government and Boko Haram leadership,   Shehu Sani, had raised the alarm that the girls could be indoctrinated if not urgently freed.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Sani told Sunday Vanguard, in an exclusive interview in May, that the prolonged detention of the girls by the terrorists could dramatically alter their fate and orientation.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">According to Sani, the longer the girls were being kept  by their captors, the higher the potential of their being brainwashed to accept radicalism and terrorism.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He said:”But the danger of keeping these girls, without either using negotiation or force to free them is that, everyday these girls are being brainwashed by the insurgents.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">” If we are not careful, the Chibok girls that would come out of captivity would not be the same girls that went into captivity. They would be indoctrinated, they would be hypnotised and brainwashed to the point that they would be transformed into insurgents themselves. And of what use would they be?</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“These are very young girls in their teens with very open and vulnerable minds but open to dangerous ideas. You can see how a man would abduct a girl whose parents don’t like him and, by the time the girl comes back she is ready to fight her parents.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“So, the danger is that as the clocks ticks, it is ticking for us , for the girls and for our reputation and integrity as a country”.</span></div> <div class="OUTBRAIN" data-browser="safari" data-dynload="" data-ob-mark="true" data-os="ipad" data-src="http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/08/chibok-girls-fingered-suicide-bombers/" id="outbrain_widget_0" obdone="true" style="border: 0px; clear: both; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="ob_brnBox_cont NA" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span class="ob_empty" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><wbr style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></wbr></span><span class="ob_org_header" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 600; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 3px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div> </div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/08/chibok-girls-fingered-suicide-bombers/#sthash.HE7QCZvy.dpuf</span></div>

Chibok girls fingered as suicide bombers

The delay in freeing the over 200 girls seized from Government Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno State, may have exposed them to radicali...

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An Almost-Jihadi is Now a Defender of Israel: Read and learn one or two things going onn even here in Nigeria

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="box-title" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 10px; padding: 10px;"> <br /></div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><i><img alt="hafeez" src="http://www.jewishchronicle.org/article_image/002433-hafeez_kasim.jpg" style="float: left; height: 320px; width: 226px;" title="hafeez" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle</i><br />Leon Cohen</b><br />July 7, 2014<br /><br />“I'm ashamed to admit it now,” said Kasim Hafeez, 29, on May 28 in Glendale, “but I was an anti-Semite.”<br /><br />He was speaking to an audience of about 70, mostly Christians but also some Jews, at the World Outreach and Bible Training Center. The event was organized by the center and the pro-Israel organization StandWithUs.<br /><br />He told the story of how he, a Muslim born to Pakistani immigrants to Britain, became a supporter of and advocate for Israel.<br /><br />He now lives in the area of Winnipeg, Canada, where he is going to be doing professional Israel advocacy. In a June 12 news release, B'nai B'rith Canada announced that Hafeez has been appointed the organization's education and community relations officer for its Midwest region.<br /><br />“I know my upbringing was not unique,” he said. “A lot of young Muslims are brought up with this same idea” about Israel and Jews.<br /><br />His grandparents, he said, came to Britain from Pakistan in the mid-1960s primarily for economic betterment. Hafeez grew up in a predominantly Muslim community raised by parents who were “fairly observant” but “not radical” Muslims.<br /><br />Nevertheless, he remembers his father saying that German Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler “was a great man” whose “one mistake was that he didn't kill enough Jews.”<br /><br />Such ideas, he said, were “background noise” for him through his teen years. Then in 2000, he traveled to Pakistan to visit family.<br /><br />He attended events at which flags of Israel, the U.S. and India were burned, and saw people who “were killing innocent people in the name of ideology” being “treated like heroes” in various communications media.<br /><br />“It was the first time in my life that I was confronted with the idea of violent jihad to achieve a political aim,” Hafeez said. “I became very engrossed in that way of thinking.”<br /><br />Trip to Israel<br /><br />Back in Britain, he attended the University of Nottingham and became involved in the school's Islamic Society, which “pushed me to the very extreme.”<br /><br />He was active in anti-Israel activities and he participated in intimidating Jewish and pro-Israel students. And he began saving money so he could go to a terrorist training camp.<br /><br />Then while visiting a bookstore, he saw a copy of U.S. lawyer and Israel advocate Alan Dershowitz's 2003 book “The Case for Israel.” (See Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle, Sept. 5, 2003.)<br /><br />He felt so incensed that somebody would dare write a book like this that he bought it, intending to write a refutation. He embarked on two-and-a-half years of reading that caused him to start doubting all that he had been taught. “I started to realize that it's very difficult to disprove the truth,” he said.<br /><br />Finally, he decided he had to see Israel for himself. Using the money he had intended to use to go to terrorist training camp, he flew to Israel.<br /><br />Upon arrival, he had to spend some eight hours with Israeli security, which “wasn't a bad experience” and one he is able to joke about now. After he was released, he ended up in Jerusalem, “speaking to all sorts of random people,” he said. “What constantly shocked me was the diversity” of people he saw.<br /><br />While hoping to find evidence of “Israeli apartheid,” he met an Israeli Arab who said that while Israel is “not perfect,” nevertheless, “I have freedom here.” He also met a Druze, and “I've never heard anybody defend Israel like this Druze gentleman did. I call it a 'Hatikvah' [Israel's national anthem] moment.”<br /><br />He ended up at the Western Wall, surprised that he as a Muslim could go there while in Saudi Arabia there are many religious sites off-limits to non-Muslims. And he had “a moment of clarity.”<br /><br />“I'm somebody whose grandparents fought for an independent Muslim state of Pakistan so they could have their freedom and their right to practice their religion and not be at the mercy of [India's] Hindu majority,” he said.<br /><br />“And I've got the arrogance to say to the Jewish people, who've had a presence in the holy land before the first Muslim even set foot on the earth… 'You don't have a right to your own land.' I mean, how stupid can you be?”<br /><br />After he returned he began to speak about the new truths he learned about Israel. He acknowledged that “it's been tough.” Most of his family “is boycotting me.”<br /><br />He has also received death threats, which, amazingly, he is able to joke about. He said he wants to tell the people who send him threatening emails to put them through a spell-check first; “Don't spell 'kill' with a 'c.'”<br /><br />But “I would not change a millisecond” of what he has been doing. Israel “is an issue for everybody who believes in freedom and human rights and in the right to be different,” he said. “That is the beautiful thing about Israel.”</span></div>

An Almost-Jihadi is Now a Defender of Israel: Read and learn one or two things going onn even here in Nigeria

The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle Leon Cohen July 7, 2014 “I'm ashamed to admit it now,” said Kasim Hafeez, 29, on May 28 in Glendale, “...

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Religious leaders can end Boko Haram, not Jonathan — Oritsejafor

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div id="main" role="main" style="border: 0px; float: left; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 455px;"> <br /> <article class="post-456524 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-national-news" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/NewsArticle" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><h1 class="entry-title posttitle" itemprop="name headline" style="border: 0px; margin: 10px 0px 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 432px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">on</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span><time class="meta-time updated" datetime="2014-07-25T06:16:27+00:00" itemprop="datePublished" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">July 25, 2014</time><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></h1> <div class="metaStuff" style="background-image: none; border: none; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: -23px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-style: inherit;"><br /></span></div> <div class="metaStuff" style="background-image: none; border: none; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: -23px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-style: inherit;">By Daud Olatunji</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-style: inherit;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-share-button twitter-tweet-button twitter-share-button twitter-count-horizontal" data-twttr-rendered="true" frameborder="0" id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.1404859412.html#_=1406266600893&count=horizontal&id=twitter-widget-0&lang=en&original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vanguardngr.com%2F2014%2F07%2Freligious-leaders-can-end-boko-haram-not-jonathan-oritsejafor%2F&related=vanguardngrnews&size=m&text=Religious%20leaders%20can%20end%20Boko%20Haram%2C%20not%20Jonathan%20%E2%80%94%20Oritsejafor%20-%20Vanguard%20News&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vanguardngr.com%2F2014%2F07%2Freligious-leaders-can-end-boko-haram-not-jonathan-oritsejafor%2F&via=vanguardngrnews" style="border-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 107px;" title="Twitter Tweet Button"></iframe></span></div> <div id="entryContainer" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="entry entry-content" itemprop="articleBody" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 6px 0px 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-style: inherit;">ABEOKUTA—President of Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Orisejafor, has said religious leaders in the north and not President Goodluck Jonathan, could end the Boko Haram insurgency.</span></div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-style: inherit;">Orisejafor spoke in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, during the graduation, send-forth and prize giving ceremonies held by Stephen International Centre.</span></div> <br /> <div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_306116" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 20px 20px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 422px;"> <div style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://dvsl3w2q45hb8.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/ORITSEJAFOR-ayo.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: background-color, border-top-color; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: background-color, border-top-color; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="From Left: Co-Chairman, Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor; National Co-Ordinator/Executive Secretary, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, and Co-Chairman, Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar III, at a meeting" class="size-full wp-image-306116" height="250" src="http://dvsl3w2q45hb8.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/ORITSEJAFOR-ayo.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: margin 0.2s linear, box-shadow; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.247059) 1px 1px 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: margin 0.2s linear, box-shadow;" width="412" /></span></a></div> <div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 8px 0px 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">From Left: Co-Chairman, Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor; National Co-Ordinator/Executive Secretary, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, and Co-Chairman, Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, at a meeting</span></div> </div> <div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The occasion was attended by prominent dignitaries, including Secretary to Ogun State Government, Taiwo Adeoluwa, South West CAN coordinator, Arch. Bishop Magnus Atilade, commissioner for women affairs, Elizabeth Sonubi and national coordinator of voice of Christian matyrs , Isaac Oluwole, among others.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">According to CAN President, “With all sense of all responsibility, I use this opportunity to call on all Muslims religious leaders, traditional rulers and political leaders in the north not necessarily in the South West because in the South West, we have lived together and I know the way it operates in the south west.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">”So, I am challenging from the north, our religious leaders, political rulers and traditional rulers as matter of urgency, to step forward and take responsibilities for the way out of this problem.”</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Boko Haram is propelled by a religious ideology, it is not poverty. Anyone who tells you it is poverty is not telling you the truth. It’s not poverty. When you blame it on poverty, it is an insult to poor people. There are poor people everywhere even Christians all over the north. Bin laden was not a poor man. He is from a rich Saudi Arabian family. The Nigerian boy who almost blew up a plane on Christmas day is a son of one First Bank chairman and he is still one of the richest people in Nigeria today. Boko Haram insurgency is an ideology. People are being radicalised by an ideology.</span></div> <div class="OUTBRAIN" data-browser="safari" data-dynload="" data-ob-mark="true" data-os="ipad" data-src="http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/07/religious-leaders-can-end-boko-haram-not-jonathan-oritsejafor/" id="outbrain_widget_0" obdone="true" style="border: 0px; clear: both; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="ob_brnBox_cont NA" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span class="ob_empty" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><wbr style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></wbr></span><span class="ob_org_header" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 600; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 3px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">You might also like</span></span><br /> <ul class="ob_ul_container" style="border: 0px; 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Religious leaders can end Boko Haram, not Jonathan — Oritsejafor

on   July 25, 2014   By Daud Olatunji ABEOKUTA—President of Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Orisejafor, has said ...

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