President Muhammadu Buhari has urged Nigerians not to let terrorists divide the country along religious lines, following execution of some Christians and Muslims by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
“I am profoundly saddened and shocked by the death of innocent hostages in the hands of remorseless, godless, callous gangs of mass murderers that have given Islam a bad name through their atrocities,” Buhari, while reacting to the reported execution of some innocent citizens, said in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja on Friday.
“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 President, the collective security of all Nigerians is my major preoccupation and the death of an innocent Christian or Muslim distresses me,” the President said.
Buhari said the terrorists had no clearly defined agenda except the pursuit of evil through indiscriminate murder of innocent people, contrary to the teachings of Islam, which prohibits massacre.
According to him, no true Muslim will be shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ while killing innocent people, an evil frequently condemned by the Holy Qur’an.
“These agents of darkness are enemies of our common humanity and they don’t spare any victim, whether they are Muslims or Christians, and therefore, we shouldn’t let them divide us and turn us against one another.
