President Muhammadu Buhari has come down hard on extremist tendencies, saying anybody who hides under the cloak of religion to kill or maim others, is “simply deranged”.
The President maintained that neither Christianity nor Islam, advocates the killing of a person in whatever guise.
Buhari spoke Tuesday in Abuja, at the launch of the revised Counter-Terrorism Strategy.
Buhari, who was represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said: “There must be an understanding, that the war against terrorism is a most unconventional one, the enemy is essentially an insane nuisance, because he revels in cowardly attacks, does not obey any rules of warfare, kills the defenceless including prisoners, use children as human bombs and consider the killing of anyone as a victory.
“Therefore, as we think through our strategy, we must remember that to permanently win the physical battle, we must win the battle of the minds of even the most impressionable young men, who sign up to join Boko Haram and other violent extremist groups.
“We must understand that terrorism is essentially psychological war fare, and as such a psychologically sophisticated and nuanced response is necessary, we must also educate the millions of our young men through the leadership of our faith.”
He went further to state thus: “And, we must let them know that neither Islam nor any other religion that we know, endorses the slaughter of anyone, and anyone who kills the innocent and shouts that God is great either does not know the meaning of those words or is simply deranged.
“We must work hard to provide opportunities for these young men and women who for years have lacked education and the real chance of doing-well; social investment programs, home grown school feeding, and vocational and technical education are designed to give them real opportunities.
“Today as hundreds are being released from Boko Haram captivity, we are faced with serious problems of malnutrition in children, I have asked the Vice President to chair and inter-ministerial team to quickly review the situation and work with our development partners and overseas experts to handle this particular problem.”
