Afenifere, ACF, Ohanaeze, others may meet over terror attacks

WORRIED by the spate of bombings in some parts of Nigeria and the dangerous religious dimension the dastardly act could take, ethnic leaders in the country may convene a national emergency conference before the end of this year, with a view to ending the trend.Although the venue of the meeting is yet to be fixed, The Guardian learnt that two representatives each from the over 300 ethnic nationalities in the country might form the quorum at the meeting.According to Secretary, Egbe Afenifere Kwara State Wing, Wole Oke, the meeting had become imperative to save Nigeria from 'an imminent religious war' that could destroy the gains of the current democratic regime.Oke who spoke with The Guardian yesterday in Ilorin, believed that it would be difficult to rule out religious undertone from the Christmas Day bombings in Niger and Plateau States.Meanwhile, Kwara State Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship candidate, Mohammed Dele Belgore (SAN), has condemned the Christmas Day bombing at the St. Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, near Suleija, Niger State, and other attacks, which killed dozens of people.Belgore described the rising insecurity as a 'national crisis.'In a statement by his media aide, Rafiu Ajakaye, Belgore said: 'I join the rest of the world in condemning in the strongest terms the multiple bombings on Christmas Day which killed dozens of our fellow countrymen. These attacks are barbaric and totally unacceptable.'All men and women of goodwill should be horrified by this cold-blooded murder of innocent citizens. My thoughts go to the families and friends of the victims.'And, the Federal Government has been advised to change its counter-terrorism strategy from the current law enforcement (reactive) model to a security model (pro-active) in order to minimise the loss of lives to Boko Haram attacks.The government has been charged to nip the Boko Haram attacks in the buds, rather than looking for the sect's fighters after they must have committed mass murder.A security expert, Dr. Ona Ekhomu, stated these in a reaction to the Christmas Day attacks.Ekhomu observed that despite the abundance of intelligence on the intentions of Boko Haram to attack churches on Christmas Day, the terrorists could not be stopped prior to unleashing their catastrophic attacks.Ekhomu warned that since Boko Haram struck on Christmas Day this year, they might likely strike on New Year's Day 2012.He based this prediction on the fact that the terrorist group struck on Christmas Eve in 2010 and New Year's Eve in 2010.
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