PRESS RELEASE
BY
CHRISTIAN ELDERS FORUM OF NORTHERN STATES
(NOSCEF)

WHY CRUCIFY SENATE PRESIDENT?
It is a great surprise to us the uproar caused by what David Mark the Senate President said, what did he say? The sum total is;
1. The Northern Elders have not done enough to restrain Boko Haram and all the attendant violence and bloodshed.
2. If the violence, killings and bombings is not arrested immediately, it may lead to the disintegration of Nigeria. What did he say that is strange? Haven’t other people said the same thing or more? Are we accusing him because he was frank and bold enough to say what all of us have been saying in private? Even at the meeting of the Northern Elders Forum in Abuja, the forum blamed the Northern Elders for the situation that the North has found itself. The Forum admitted the Northern Elders had not followed the footsteps of SARDAUNA in peace and harmony and also in development.
Everybody is alarmed at the state of the nation. The North has never had it so bad. We Northerners must be frank with ourselves. We have failed miserably. Can the Village and Ward Heads claim they don’t know the people causing the trouble?
When the Christian Elders Forum of Northern States was shouting at the beginning of the fracas, nobody took us serious. We were called alarmists and all kinds of names. Later ACF came on board to sound caution. Yes, the Northern Elders have not done enough to bring peace. We can do more. During the petrol subsidy crisis, Muslims guarded Christians when they were in the church to pray and the Christians surrounded, protected the Muslims when they went to the mosques to pray. Why can’t we do that again? Why can’t we organize that kind of thing on Fridays and Sundays? Christians and Muslims demonstrated together peacefully during the petrol subsidy crisis. Why can’t Muslims and Christians demonstrate together for peace in every town and city in the North?
We expect pamphlets calling for peace to be written in Hausa, Fulani, Arabic and other dialects in hot spots signed by religious, political and traditional rulers calling for peace.
We expect each Governor and each Local Government Chairman to do the same. We expect sermons rebuking violence and bloodshed to be preached on Fridays in every mosque and on Sunday in every church all over the North.
Politicians can organize rallies to fill stadiums for their political end but they cannot do the same for peace. Who will they over rule over if there is no peace?
We hereby call on the Northern Elders, Traditional Rulers and Politicians to stop treating the Boko Haram issue and the attendant bombing and killing with a kid-glove. It is not a small thing. It is a dangerous thing that can escalate and degenerate into a full scale blown war. Enough is enough! Let everybody wake up. An urgent meeting of Northern Muslim Elders and Northern Christian Elders should be called especially in the states affected to fashion the way forward. We are at the brink, the edge of a bottomless pit. A step forward may bring calamity. It is time for us to retrace our steps. We expect all the Elders, the Speaker of the House of Representatives to join the Senate President to sound the alarm.
The Plight of Christians in the North.
We Christians in the North have suffered a lot. Inflicting us with violence is no longer news. It is a weekly occurrence. We do not matter to the Northern Elites. Our lives are counted as nothing to them:
i. Our Secondary Schools (mission schools) were forcefully taken away from us without any compensation.
ii. The names of the schools were changed to Muslim names.
iii. In many of them, they do not teach Christian Religious Studies.
iv. Christian children can hardly get admitted to those schools.
v. Christian students can not get admission into the universities of their choice even if they are qualified, even if they are indigenes of that state.
vi. To make Matters worse, President Jonathan gave Muslim Mission Schools i.e. the Almajiri schools N5 Billion recently. The Christians are becoming restless and angry because no kobo has been given to the Christians. We need the money urgently to upgrade our mission schools. The President should not take us for granted. There is a level to our patience.
Vii Post election violence destroyed over 300 churches and over 1000 Christian businesses. It is a year ago now, yet no compensation of any sort has been paid.
We appeal to Christian youths who are getting impatient, angry and frustrated to the point of feeling that we Christian Elders have sold out. We have not sold out to anybody. We appeal to Christian youths to calm down and exercise patience. We trust that the Government will do something to ameliorate our sufferings.
Nigeria belongs to all of us. All Nigerians have the right to live anywhere in Nigeria unmolested provided that he is carrying out his legal lawful business. How can anybody declare that they will even drive those of us who come from the North out of the North. Enough is enough! Let nobody take us for granted. Docility does not mean cowardice.
Everybody is struggling to share out of the national cake, but nobody is worrying about preparing to bake the cake. Let us join hands together to build a better country. Let us not hand over bloodshed, hatred and violence to our children.

Evang. Matthew Owojaiye
Chairman
Christian Elders Forum of Northern States
(NOSCEF)