President Muhammadu Buhari has confirmed Nigeria’s membership of the
Islamic Coalition Against Terrorism being spearheaded by Saudi Arabia
amidst speculations of alleged plan to Islamise the country. The President made the disclosure in an interview he granted to
Al-Jazeera during his recent visit to Doha, Qatar, while the interview
was aired on Saturday.
When asked whether Nigeria was part of the Islamic coalition, Buhari answered in the affirmative.
He attributed the reason behind the decision to the fact that there are terrorists in Nigeria who claim to be Muslims.
“We are part of it (the Islamic coalition) because we’ve got
terrorists in Nigeria that everybody knows which claim that they are
Islamic.
“So, if there’s an Islamic coalition to fight terrorism, Nigeria will
be part of it because we are casualties of Islamic terrorism,” the
President said.
Buhari said he discussed Nigeria’s membership of the coalition with
King Salman Bin Abdul-Aziz during their meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
when he visited the country recently.
He however did not disclose how the membership of the Islamic coalition would be beneficial to Nigeria when asked to do so. He said it would be wrong to disclose the details to the media.
“Well, that we mentioned under Lake Chad Basin Commission, our
regional grouping compromising Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Benin
and we dedicated a certain number of troops to be deployed in our own
sub-region and I don’t think we have to tell the press the details of
that,” he simply said.
Buhari however justified Nigeria’s membership of the Islamic
coalition, saying there is nothing wrong in joining the coalition since
members of the Boko Haram sect fighting in Nigeria have claimed they are
Muslims even when their activities are anti-Islam. He added that the Boko Haram itself had declared loyalty to ISIS
He said, “I’ve just told you it is the Boko Haram itself that declared loyalty to ISIS. “ISIS is basically based in Islamic countries. Now, if there’s a
coalition to fight Islamic terrorism, why can’t Nigeria be part of it,
while those that are fighting in Nigeria as Boko Haram claim to be
Muslims? But the way they are doing it is anti-Islamic.”
When confronted with the fact that Nigeria has large populations of
both Muslims and Christians and that some Christians are complaining
that he is giving Islamic identity to the country by his actions, Buhari
wondered why the Christians who are complaining have not deemed it fit
to confront members of Boko Haram in the North East or militants in the
South South.
“Why can’t those Christians that complained go and fight terrorism in
Nigeria or fight the militancy in the South. It’s Nigeria that matters,
not the opinion of some religious bigots,” he declared.
The President however denied any attempt to change the religious identity of the country.
He said, “How can I change the religious identity of Nigeria?
“No religion advocates hurting the innocent and just because the
Muslims are the ones that claim to be Boko Haram and they are killing
innocent people whether in the church, in the bus or in the market
place, then I will just sit and look at them because I too am a Muslim?
Islam is against injustice in any form.”
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