The United States has advised the
Federal Government to do more in protecting Nigerians and humanitarian
organisations that are assisting the country in the face of activities
of Boko Haram insurgents and other religious and ethnic violence.
The US Secretary of State, Michael
Pompeo, made the call in Washington DC on Tuesday during a joint media
briefing he had with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey
Onyeama, after the US-Nigeria Bi-national Commission meeting.
Pompeo made the call amidst increasing
attacks by Boko Haram insurgents on aid workers and residents of the
North-East as well as the rising killings by bandits in other parts of
the country, particularly, Niger, Zamfara and Katsina states.
Also on insecurity, the Presidency and
the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs on Wednesday hit back
at the Christian Association of Nigeria over its attack on the
President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), who on Tuesday said
insurgents had killed more Muslims than Christians.
But CAN on Wednesday insisted that the NSCIA could not exonerate Boko Haram as an Islamic organisation.
Buhari, had in an op-ed published in a
United States-based magazine, Christianity Today, said Christians were
not the primary targets of the insurgents.
CAN’s Director of Legal and Public
Affairs, Kwamkur Samuel, in his response, told The PUNCH on Tuesday
that Buhari’s statement was provocative.
He said Boko Haram had wiped out all Christian communities in Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, among others.
The rising insecurity in Nigeria featured at the US-Nigeria Bi-national Commission meeting in Washington DC.
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