The federal government yesterday said the counter-insurgency war in the northeast zone of the country is never against Islam or Muslims, since terrorism itself is un-Islamic, and called on all genuine Muslims to throw their support against those whose actions are bringing harm and ridicule to the religion.
The national security adviser (NSA), Col. Mohammed Sambo Dasuki (rtd), made this clarification in Abuja while rolling out Nigeria’s soft approach to counter-terrorism including the economic development plan for the northeast with a view to restoring the economy of the affected three states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe to good health.
Dasuki said “counter-terrorism is not against Islam” because “terrorism is un-Islamic” and the federal government has concluded a plan that will “encourage and empower Muslims to speak out against terror”.
“The terrorists twist and pervert the true meaning and spirit of religious text to win support for their evil cause. Our approach emphasizes the un-Islamic nature of terrorism by means of sound Islamic knowledge. We will encourage mainstream Islamic scholars to write books, articles and issue Fatwas that directly dismantle the ideology of suicide bombing and misconception of jihad.
“We will ensure that the fight against terror is not misconstrued by Muslims in Nigeria as a fight against them. The terrorists are an influential minority who live with and claim to be Muslims but through their activities bring harm and ridicule to Muslims and the religion of Islam. Concerted efforts are being made to isolate the terrorists from the communities in which they find sanctuary,” the NSA said.
Further efforts, he said, will be dedicated towards encouraging and empowering Muslims to speak out against terror, adding that only mainstream Muslims can defeat terrorist ideology.
“The ideology of terrorism will be defeated through mainstream Muslims in Nigeria. Our approach seeks to enlist and build capacity for counter-terrorism cooperation among Muslims by exposing the true intent and form of government that the terrorist groups seek to impose,” he said.
The NSA disclosed that the terrorists are desperate to ignite a religious war between Nigerian Christians and Muslims in order to actualize a war scenario that would aid their operations.
To counter this, the NSA said, his office will launch an aggressive interfaith response between Christians and Muslims to create awareness on terrorism.
“Our major goal is to unite Nigerian Muslims and Christians against terrorism. Government will build inter-party collaboration for counter-terrorism to ensure party affiliations do not hinder stakeholders from contributing to efforts targeted at countering extremism,” he assured.
Dasuki disclosed that there will soon be a re-radicalized programme that will be prison-based and will be anchored by the Ministry of Interior along with the Nigeria Prisons Service. He explained that the initiative will require substantial capacity building of prison staff in areas such as psychology, sports and arts therapy, faith-based instructors and vocational training experts that would engage beneficiaries.
On the economic development of the affected states, he said “we are working with the Governors of the six Northeastern states of Nigeria to design an economic revitalization programme targeted toward the states most impacted by terrorism. Working with various stakeholders, we are currently designing a regional economic revitalization plan”.
In his remarks, the attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice, Mohammed Adoke, emphasised the fact that any sustainable counter-terrorism approach must be done within the confines of the law.
He said terrorism cases are now being prosecuted in a record time of six months unlike before it could have taken between seven and eight years. He said that within the last six to eight months, there have been eight convictions on terrorism-related cases. “We are able to prosecute cases of terrorism from start to finish within a period of six months. This is a record time of trial and a marked departure from the past where it takes seven to eight years. In the last six months we had eight convictions and in the last two years about 40, while within the last one week we have received about 520 case files.”
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