Onoja supports dialogue with Boko Haram

By Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo 

Lawrence Onoja,

A retired Major-General in the Army, Lawrence Onoja, has supported the Federal Government’s move to dialogue with the Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

He said dialoguing with the group, no doubt, will help douse the tension caused by the activities of the Islamic sect and will eventually bring an end to the incessant bloodbaths in the Northern part of the country.

Addressing reporters in Osogbo, the Osun State capital at the weekend, when on a courtesy visit to the state governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, he also advised the sponsors and leadership of Boko Haram to sheath their sword and approach the Federal Government on how to address the injustices for which they claimed to be fighting.

Onoja, an Action Congress of Nigeria senatorial candidate for the Benue South Senatorial District in the April 2011 polls, said he came to Osun State to identify with the good works and visionary leadership of Aregbesola.

He disclosed that he never planned to secretly decamp to another political party as speculated by some people. 

He said: “The rumour of my plan to defect from ACN to another party was unfounded, callous, orchestrated to run me down. It is the handiwork of some political jobbers and neophytes who are still afraid of my outstanding profile and the grassroots popularity of the ACN in Benue State. 

“These rumours are mere ‘pepper soup joint’ campaign of idle minds, who are out to destabilise the ACN in Benue state. It is a publicly known fact that the ACN won most of the elections in the 2011 polls but they were rigged by the desperate PDP government. 

SOURCE: The Nation, 18 March 2012. http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/