President Muhammadu Buhari has admitted that Nigeria has
joined the Islamic Coalition against Terrorism put together by Saudi
Arabia.
He made the disclosure during an interview broadcast at the weekend on international satellite news channel, Aljazeera.
He had been asked whether Nigeria was part of it and he answered: “We are part of it 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.”
Asked whether he had suggested Nigeria’s membership of the coalition during his meeting with King Salman Bin Abdul-Aziz during their meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia recently, Buhari said: “Yes.”
Asked to explain how such coalition would work for Nigeria, he said he could not disclose the details to the media.
He added: ‘‘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.”
When his interviewer pointed out that since Nigeria was roughly evenly divided among Christians and Muslims and that some Christians were complaining that he was giving Islamic identity to Nigeria, the president wondered why such Christians had not gone to fight Boko Haram in the North or militants sabotaging installations in the 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 stated.
The president’s admission came a under two weeks after an official presidency statement seemed to suggest that Buhari had turned down the invitation to be part of the coalition.
…Terrorism: W/Africa’s Sahel Nations set up anti-Terror unit
Defence ministers from West Africa’s Sahel region have agreed to work together to establish special rapid reaction forces to counter the growing threat from Islamic militants.
At a meeting in N’Djamena, Chad, defence chiefs from Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Mauritania pledged to form special units to respond quickly to threats and attacks from the militants.
The G5 Sahel’s permanent secretary, Najim Elhadj Mohamed told Reuters news agency that these groups, each composed of around 100 well-trained and very mobile men will deploy in zones where the terrorists operate.
He said the units, tailored after Spanish forces used against the Basque separatist group ETA, would receive training and support from both Spain and France.
Culled from Leadership
He made the disclosure during an interview broadcast at the weekend on international satellite news channel, Aljazeera.
He had been asked whether Nigeria was part of it and he answered: “We are part of it 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.”
Asked whether he had suggested Nigeria’s membership of the coalition during his meeting with King Salman Bin Abdul-Aziz during their meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia recently, Buhari said: “Yes.”
Asked to explain how such coalition would work for Nigeria, he said he could not disclose the details to the media.
He added: ‘‘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.”
When his interviewer pointed out that since Nigeria was roughly evenly divided among Christians and Muslims and that some Christians were complaining that he was giving Islamic identity to Nigeria, the president wondered why such Christians had not gone to fight Boko Haram in the North or militants sabotaging installations in the 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 stated.
The president’s admission came a under two weeks after an official presidency statement seemed to suggest that Buhari had turned down the invitation to be part of the coalition.
…Terrorism: W/Africa’s Sahel Nations set up anti-Terror unit
Defence ministers from West Africa’s Sahel region have agreed to work together to establish special rapid reaction forces to counter the growing threat from Islamic militants.
At a meeting in N’Djamena, Chad, defence chiefs from Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Mauritania pledged to form special units to respond quickly to threats and attacks from the militants.
The G5 Sahel’s permanent secretary, Najim Elhadj Mohamed told Reuters news agency that these groups, each composed of around 100 well-trained and very mobile men will deploy in zones where the terrorists operate.
He said the units, tailored after Spanish forces used against the Basque separatist group ETA, would receive training and support from both Spain and France.
Culled from Leadership
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