President Buhari has reacted to the killings by terrorists on Friday, saying he was saddened over the execution of 11 hostages by the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP). The terror group claimed the killing was to avenge the death of its leader Abu Bakr Albaghdadi and Abul-Hassan Al-Muhajir who were killed by the US troops in Iraq and Syria respectively.
Buhari appealed to Nigerians to resist terrorist motive to divide them along religious fault lines. He said he condemned the execution in totality and urged good Nigerians to do same, he made this massage known through his Special Adviser, Mallam Garba Shehu.
The statement partly reads; “I am profoundly saddened and shocked by the death of innocent hostages at the hands of remorseless, godless, callous gangs of mass murderers that have given Islam a bad name through their atrocities.
“We should, under no circumstance, let the terrorists divide us by turning Christians against Muslims because these barbaric killers don’t represent Islam and millions of other law-abiding Muslims around the world.
“As a sitting President, the collective security of all Nigerians is my major preoccupation and the death of an innocent Christian or Muslim distresses me.”
Buhari noted that those terrorists are only driven by the only bloodthirst agenda, which was killing innocent citizens as against the teaching of Islam which frowns at all forms of vices.
He disclosed that terrorists are enemies to all humanities and agent of darkness who do not regard any human being sacred whether as Christians or Muslims, therefore, Nigerians should not allow them to make us turn against each other.
He added, their target was to set confusion amongst the two major religions where there will be mistrust, meanwhile, they are not representing the true image of the majority of Muslims or Islam itself.
“While I condemn this evil, I wish to reassure Nigerians that this administration will not in its effort in the fight against terrorism, and we will continue to intensify our efforts towards strengthening international cooperation and collaboration to break the backbone of these evil-doers.” Buhari said.
He enjoined Nigerians from falling victim of conspiracy theories making round the media, saying that is exactly what the terrorists seek to achieve.
Moreso, The United Nations had reacted to the latest killings, expressing “deepest condolences to the families of the victims and reiterates the solidarity of the United Nations with the people and Government of Nigeria.”
