The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, on Monday said there was no big deal in Nigeria being a member of the Islamic Coalition Against Terrorism put together by Saudi Arabia.
He said it was wrong to accuse the government of giving Nigeria an Islamic identity with the decision to be a member of the coalition.
Onyeama gave the clarification in an interview with State House correspondents shortly after he met President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
President Muhammadu Buhari had in an interview he granted to Al-Jazeera during his recent visit to Doha, Qatar, confirmed Nigeria’s membership of the coalition, further fueling speculations of alleged plans to Islamise the country.
The minister said Nigerians should show more interest in the objectives of the coalition rather than looking at the religious perspective.
He said because terrorism was global in outlook, Nigeria would be interested in any move to tackle it.
He said, “It has nothing to do with religion as far as Nigeria is concerned. We have to look at what the objective is. We face terror challenges and its a global phenomenon.
“Unfortunately, the problem we have today is that some of the terrorists groups are claiming some of the things they are doing is in the name of a particular religion and it is clear to everybody that this is not the case which is obviously a concern to people of Islamic faith and Islamic countries that their religion should be so abused.
“So, there is naturally a tendency to show that this has nothing to do with Islam. Terrorism has nothing to do with Islam.
“Islamic countries, Islamic people want to be seen as being in the forefront of the battle against these terrorists to show also that it has absolutely nothing to do with religion.
“That’s what this is all about. So, we are supporting every move to achieve this, to disabuse people’s minds that some of these terrorists are speaking in the name of Islam or are Islamic or that there’s anything about Islamic teaching that somehow condones these barbaric actions.”
Onyeama said Nigerians should be ready to support any move to tackle terrorism.
Terrorism: Foreign minister clarifies Nigeria’s membership of Islamic coalition
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