The President of IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe has commended President John Mahama’s efforts at rallying support from his colleague West African heads of state to find effective solutions to the activities of terrorist groups.
On Citi FM’s the Big Issue on Saturday, Mr. Cudjoe said: “I think President Mahama obviously is doing quite well…I think he is living up to his responsibilities.”
His commendation follows the summoning of ECOWAS heads of state for an emergency meeting in Accra on Friday to discuss Boko Haram threat in Nigeria, the security situation in Mali and other pressing matters affecting West African countries.
Eight West African heads of state attended the meeting at the behest of ECOWAS Chairman, President Mahama.
The IMANI boss described the meeting as “spot on”, adding that, reports from Nigeria suggests that Nigerians have faith in the leadership of President Mahama as the ECOWAS chair to find a lasting solution to terrorist activities in their country.
“I hear he is being hailed in Nigeria…The Nigerian first lady seems to be saying that he [Mahama] is the only person actually helping Goodluck Jonathan [Nigeria President],” he said.
He was however quick to add that if the sub-region was experiencing greater integration, “I don’t think we would be having discussions on terror cells or trying to use satellites to locate these people…we are just late.”
A financial analyst, Sydney Casely-Hayford also on Citi FM’s the Big Issue described the emergency ECOWAS meeting as “successful.”
He opined that African leaders have however allowed the terrorist activities to fester and grow out of proportion.
According to Casely-Hayford, although much attention is being paid to the fact that Boko Haram is a terrorist group, security chiefs should also focus on Boko Haram as an Islamist Militant group who are imposing their religious views on their victims.
He questioned why religious leaders do not rise up to slam such religious impositions when terrorist groups use religion as a basis to enhance or sanitize their religion.
The financial analyst urged mainstream religious organizations to condemn such religious extremists “so they can control the offshoots and the extreme terrorists…who create more havoc than anything else we can find.”
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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