Posted on Feb 27, 2020
The Federal Government has raised the alarm that Boko Haram insurgents are attacking Christians to divide the country.
It said the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has no systematic campaign to persecute Christians in Nigeria.
It said since the insurgents were feeling hurt by troops, they have opted to be targeting Christians to cause chaos. It pleaded with religious leaders not to fall for the war antics of Boko Haram. It however explained that troops were winning the war including the recent killing of the Chief Judge of Boko Haram. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alh. Lai Mohammed made the position of the government known at a briefing in Abuja on the current security challenges facing the nation.
He said: “Recall that Boko Haram insurgents didn’t use to discriminate between Christians and Muslims when they carried out their attacks in the past. Churches and mosques, Christians and Muslims were attacked without discrimination.
“When they targeted motor parks, the religion, gender, ethnicity or political leaning of the victims didn’t matter, as long as they inflicted the maximum damage to lives and property.
“But in the wake of a renewed onslaught by our tireless military against Boko Haram and their ISWAP allies in recent times, the insurgents have apparently changed their strategy:
“They have started targeting Christians and Christian villages for a specific reason, which is to trigger a religious war and throw the nation into chaos.
“Apparently, they have realised how emotive and divisive religion can be, when exploited by unscrupulous persons.
” Lest I am misunderstood, let me repeat: the insurgents, who delude themselves as Muslims whereas they are nothing more than blood-thirsty, rapacious killers who subscribe to no religion, have recently started targeting Christians with a view to sowing the seed of confusion between the two great religions.
“This did not in any way signify that they have stopped attacking Muslims. But they seem to now have a deliberate policy of attacking Christians.
“The attack on a Christian village, Kwarangulum, near Chibok; the killing of the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Michika local government in Adamawa, Lawan Andimi; the killing of Ropvil Daciya Dalep, a student who was also a member of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) and the killing of 11 Christians on Christmas eve, etc, fit into this new strategy.