Buhari: Most Nigerians Now Know Boko Haram Has No Religious, Ethnic Undertones

•Reviews strategy, vows tougher actions against terrorists

Deji Elumoye and Udora Orizu in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari, has disclosed that with adequate education, most Nigerians now know the truth that Boko Haram sect, has neither religious nor ethnic undertone.

Speaking Wednesday while playing host to the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karin Ahmad Khan, at the State House, Abuja, the president added that with concerted public enlightenment, it had become clear to the people that Boko Haram was a perversion of religion, rather than an Islamic ideology.

In a related development, the president, yesterday, warned of tougher security measures in restive parts of the country, following a review of security operations and strategy.

Addressing his guests from the ICC, Buhari said, “God is justice. You can’t kill innocent people, and shout Allah Akbar (God is great). It’s either you don’t know that God at all, or you are simply being stupid.

“To say Western education is unacceptable (Haram) is very fraudulent. That is why we are fighting them, and educating the people. And we are succeeding a lot.

“We came to office, when things were very bad, but we are educating the people. Education is fundamental. Religion and ethnicity are out of it. Some people have just made it a lifestyle to cause confusion, destruction and death.” 

Earlier, the ICC Prosecutor, said extremism was like cancer, which spreads and could also recede, noting that what Boko Haram does in collaboration with Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) “is perversion of religion.”

Khan said the ICC believed in complementarity, “which promotes collaboration, as against confrontation,” counseling Nigeria in concert with other Sahel/Lake Chad basin countries, to get the United Nations Security Council to refer the atrocities committed by the terrorist groups operating in the region to ICC, for investigation and subsequently trial.

Also, speaking at the 11th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja, the President noted that the major security challenges have remained in the North Central and North West, saying his administration would be very tough on terrorists, going forward.

Accordingly, Buhari, who claimed the South-south part of the country had been relatively peaceful now than during previous administrations, however, reassured Nigerians that efforts that resulted in relative peace in the South-south and rescuing of the north-east from the hold of terrorists, would be ramped up.

He said: “I will like us to reflect on what the situation was before we came in. How many Local Government Areas were under the control of terrorists in the north-east? In the South-south, we all know what the situation was. Now, we have relative peace.

“With the resources at our disposal, we have done very well. People are very forgetful. Our main problem now is in the North West and North Central. People are killing one another in these places. What for? We are going to be very tough.”

The president urged party members to be more mindful of the pitfalls that led to the ouster of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015 and told new members of the National Working Committee (NWC), which had been delegated powers of NEC for a period, to work towards keeping the party together by creating more room for discussions.

His words: “The PDP thought that only time could remove them, and the time actually came. They thought it was impossible to lose elections. The APC was formed by a merger of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), some members from All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the new PDP, which was a faction of the then ruling party.

“We put together a committee with clear terms of reference on how to remove the PDP from power. The PDP thought it wasn’t going to be possible. But it happened. There’s no time to develop differences among ourselves. We have no time for that”.

Buhari, however, commended the Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker/Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) and all its members for offering themselves to serve the party despite all the attendant challenges and for organising the National Convention that produced the NWC.

He appealed to all aspirants, who were not elected to put in efforts in support of the leadership of the party to achieve their goal of success in the forthcoming elections, and urged all litigants to withdraw cases against the party.

Buhari further advised party leaders against imposing unpopular candidates, who could not win elections for the APC.