'Forgive those who booed you,' cleric begs Buhari

National Coordinator of the National Inter-Faith and Religious Organization for Peace, Bishop Sunday Garuba, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to forgive some Nigerians who booed him in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.

Some Borno residents had booed President Buhari's convoy during his condolence visit to the state.

Speaking at the end of the 21-day fast at the Unity Fountain Abuja over the weekend, the cleric declared that the insurgency in the northern part of the country would not lead to war.

''I am also using this medium to apologize to President Muhammadu Buhari on behalf of the good people of Borno State for the show of shame that was politically motivated by those whose hands have been soiled with the blood of innocent people that have lost their lives in the Boko Haram/ISWAP conflict in North-East Nigeria.

''I am standing in front of all of you here to ask President Muhammadu Buhari to forgive those that booed him as well as those that mobilized those that booed him because Allah is all merciful and he is quick to forgive'', Garuba said.

According to him, Nigeria was bleeding at the time, so much that there was an urgent need for a heavenly intervention.

He said the group prayed and fasted for God's intervention and he indeed intervened by giving the country a "trustworthy and reliable leader" like President Muhammadu Buhari.

''The killing of the CAN President of Michika and other brethren, students and innocent souls that were instigated by some criminal elements have prompted us not to only pray in the spirit but to rise with our loud voices to heaven and call on God to rise for the sake of President Buhari to put these agents of darkness to shame.

"God is about descending heavily on those that have conspired in times past against Nigeria, and those plotting against President Muhammadu Buhari. God has sent destruction to their households. He has promised to bring shame to every one of them in the business of the soliciting for the destruction of Nigeria. God has promised to go after them one after the other wherever they are on this planet for the earth is the lord and its fullness thereof.

''I also wish to use this medium to call on the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) and other religious organizations to ignore the politics of hate and bitterness and embrace the unity of Nigeria so that God will help us to defeat the evil ones'', Garuba said.

Also at the event, a muslim cleric, Sheik Abubakar Sadiq, who led other clerics called on Nigerians to embrace one another and live in peace with each other.