Brig.-Gen. Lawrence Onoja (rtd)
A former Military Governor of Plateau and Katsina states Brig.-Gen. Lawrence Onoja (rtd) has denied reports that he is in support of activities of members of the Boko Haram sect.
Onoja, a senatorial candidate in the 2011 election on the platform of ACN was recently quoted to have said that the Boko Haram group has a genuine case, saying that he would have joined them if they were not killing innocent people.
He said: “If you look at it from the beginning, they (Boko Haram) have a genuine case. I have told people that I would have been a member of Boko Haram before they started killing people. But if they had started going after those who rigged elections and killing them; those who carried ballot boxes to their homes, thump-printed and started announcing fake results the next day, which is what most people are doing; if they go after such people, I would have joined them. What we don’t want is to start wasting people’s lives.”
But on the contrary, the Idoma-born politician in a statement said that the media misquoted him on his comments about the sect.
The statement reads in part: “The first salvo of this misrepresentation was published on page 62 of The Nation newspaper of Wednesday November 7, 2012, captioned “I would have been Boko Haram member, says Onoja”. This was followed on Tuesday Nov.20, 2012, by a public commentator on the AIT Kaakaki morning show, when a discussant erroneously claimed that I know members of the Boko Haram sect”, he said.
The statement, which was signed by his spokesman, Paul Esah Udenyi added, “the erroneous misrepresentation of Onoja has caused him bombarded calls from concerned Nigerians, religious leaders and foreigners alike. It is in the light of this unfortunate misconception that we have decided to make it clear that General Onoja has never and will never support the sect’s violence against innocent Nigerians”.
“The retired general said if Boko Haram had targeted their attacks on election riggers, fake ballot box stuffers, snatchers and thumb printers, corrupt government officials, and not innocent worshippers in either churches or mosques, their fight would have made some sense”, the statement added.
Comments