The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has urged President Bola Tinubu to diplomatically engage with President Donald Trump, requesting a 100-day window to tackle the insurgency in Nigeria.
According to Pastor Adeboye, if granted this reprieve, President Tinubu should then instruct the Service Chiefs and other security agencies to resolve the issue within 90 days, or face resignation.
Speaking at the November edition of the monthly Holy Ghost Night, Pastor Adeboye emphasised that Nigeria cannot rely on foreign powers for defence in the event of a US attack.
“We must take note of the fact that if the US should attack us, China is not coming to defend us, Russia won’t defend us,” he said.
He stated: “All the so-called world leaders will talk and condemn what America has done, but they won’t help us.”
The cleric advised President Tinubu to clearly direct security chiefs to eliminate not only terrorists but also their sponsors, regardless of influence.
“When giving orders to the service chiefs this time round, he should make it clear to them that they are not only to eliminate the terrorists but also eliminate the sponsors, no matter how influential they may be,” he said.
Pastor Adeboye recalled a similar situation during the late President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, where he advised decisive action against insecurity.
He said he had once privately advised him to take decisive action when killings in the country became unbearable. However, Buhari did not follow through on the counsel.
He 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. It’s not allowed to tell you who gave him that advice. 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.
“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? Because when three months passed and the work wasn’t done, why didn’t you proceed with your, are we going to call it threat?’
“I won’t tell you the details, but one thing came out of that meeting, which will lead me to my next advice to our government, in case there’s any of you who can get across to them. When giving orders to the service chiefs this time around, 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 ”
He said that unfortunately, the advice wasn’t fully heeded.
“I went to see him… I asked him why he didn’t follow through, why he didn’t proceed with his threat,” he recounted.
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