The Vice President, Prof.
Yemi Osinbajo has rubbished the perception in some quarters that President
Muhammadu Buhari was protecting killer herdsmen and Boko Haram members.
Osinbajo said the narrative
that the “president was protecting killer herdsmen and Boko Haram members was a
desperate ploy to promote ethnic and religious suspicion”.
He spoke at an event to
mark the 80th birthday of former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba
in Lagos, on Monday, NAN reports.
The Vice President said
Boko Haram terrorists once made an attempt on the president’s life, and the
incident, which occurred during one of his campaign visits, had betrayed the
fact that the claims that he was protecting them were just to cause disunity.
He said the government was
committed to the well-being of all Nigerians and urged citizens to unite
against all evils, including religious extremism.
Osinbajo said that Boko
Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and others were enemies of
the nation, urging all citizens to join hands with the government to root them
out.
”The likes of Boko Haram,
ISIS, Islamic State West Africa Province and many Salafist-Jihadist ideologies
are expansionist ideologies that feed purely on hate, hatred of any person or
group that does not belong to their particular sect.
”They have no redressible
grievances; so there are no terms of reference for peace. Fanatics committed to
a twisted creed.
”They exploit the ignorance
of the tenets of Islam, poverty and exclusion, recruit men and women and use
children to perpetrate the most heinous atrocities.
“They are motivated by a
satanic desire to control communities by murder and terror.
”Whether it is in Iraq,
Borno or Syria their victims are men, women and children, Muslim or Christians
so long as they do not share their sick ideology, they target churches,
mosques, markets and motor parks where people gather, using children as human bombs
to kill randomly, regardless of tribe or faith.
”The challenge for us is to
recognize this extremism for what it is. To form alliances across faiths and
ethnicities to destroy an evil that confronts us all,” he said.
According to him, herder
and farmer conflicts, random killings, banditry and kidnapping in different
parts of the country are extant challenges that the army has had to intervene
in on several occasions.
”I want to reassure all
Nigerians that these issues are being seriously tackled by the Federal
Government, working with the States, through a multi-pronged approach. Nobody
will be allowed to maim, kill or commit other crimes and escape.
”It is our duty to
apprehend and punish these criminals and we are doing and will continue to do
so,” Osinbajo said.
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