President Muhammadu Buhari has come out to say that 90 percent of all Boko Haram victims in the past years have been Muslims.
In a recent statement, Buhari said the belief that Boko Haram members only target Christians in the country is not true.
According to him, Boko Haram targets the vulnerable, the religious, the non-religious, the young, and the old.
He added that there is no place in our nation for those that want to divide Nigeria by religion.
His words, “It is the reality that some 90 per cent of all Boko Haram’s victims have been Muslims.
“They include a copycat abduction of over 100 Muslim schoolgirls, along with their single Christian classmate; shootings inside mosques; and the murder of two prominent imams.
“It is a simple fact that these now-failing terrorists have targeted the vulnerable, the religious, the non-religious, the young, and the old without discrimination.”
“Just as my government, and our international partners, quicken our campaign to defeat Boko Haram within and without our borders, we must turn our minds to the future.”
“There is no place in Nigeria for those who seek to divide us by religion, who compel others to change their faith forcibly or try to convince others that by so doing, they are doing good.
“We may not, yet, be completely winning the battle for the truth. Christianity in Nigeria is not—as some seem intent on believing—contracting under pressure, however, expanding and growing in numbers approaching half of our population today.”
“They have failed in their territorial ambitions, so now instead they seek to divide our state of mind, by prying us from one from another—to set one religion seemingly implacably against the other.
“Translated into English, Boko Haram means “Western teachings are sinful.” They claim as “proof” passages of the Quran which state that Muslims should fight “pagans” to be justification for attacks on Christians and those Muslims who hold no truck with them.
“They are debased by their wilful misreading of scripture—at least those of them who are able to read at all.
“Of course, there is much of Christianity and Islam—both in teaching and practice—that is not the same. Were that not so, there would be no need for the separateness of both religions.”