Buhari was right to include Nigeria in Islamic coalition against terror

monjola sotubo

March 8, 2016 11:02 AM

The alliance is being sponsored by Saudi Arabia and has 34 member-countries including Bahrain, Benin Republic, Chad and Cote d'Ivoire among others.

President Muhammadu Buhari (left) and Saudi Arabia monarch, Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud

President

Buhari announced Nigeria’s membership of the group during a recent interview with Al Jazeera in Qatar.

“We are part of it because we’ve got terrorists in Nigeria that everybody knows which claim that they are Islamic,” he said.

“So, if there’s an Islamic coalition to fight terrorism, Nigeria will be part of it because we are casualties of Islamic terrorism," the president added.

Buhari’s decision to include Nigeria in the group has been met with stiff opposition by many, some of whom have accused the president of plotting to islamize the country.

“I want to reveal one secret here; they have started subtle moves to make Nigeria an Islamic nation. But God will not allow it. This was done in 1984, but it failed,” Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose said during a recent political event in Rivers State.

His sentiment was mirrored by former aviation minister, Femi Fani-Kayode who had earlier praised Buhari for refusing to include Nigeria in the coalition.

“I am glad that President Muhamnadu Buhari has said that our country will not join the military coalition of Islamic nations that Saudi Arabia is putting together. This is a welcome development that has allayed the fears of many but it is clearly not enough and he must go further,” Fani-Kayode’s statement was based on previous reports that the president had declined the offer to register Nigeria in the group.

“I must thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the recent creation of a coalition to address the menace of international terrorism. Even if we are not a part of it, we support you,” Buhari had been quoted as saying at a recent bilateral meeting between the two countries.

President Buhari’s announcement of Nigeria’s participation in the alliance on a foreign television station, with his people having no prior knowledge of it, was tactless and showed a lack of sensitivity that is fast becoming the trademark of his administration.

However, the inclusion of Nigeria in the group is, in itself, a step in the right direction.

This is because, as Buhari mentioned, Nigeria is dealing with Boko Haram, a terrorist group that claims to be furthering the cause of Islam with its atrocities.

Also, Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to ISIS and some of the Nigerian sect’s fighters have reportedly been moving to Libya to participate in terrorist activities. This means that a wider approach involving countries that are dealing with ISIS is required, hence the need to join the coalition.

The situation is delicate and Buhari should have known better than to announce the move so brashly, bearing in mind the intense division along religious lines that is the order of the day in Nigeria.

However, Nigeria needs all the help it can get in its war against Boko Haram and if that means joining the Islamic coalition against terror, then so be it.

monjola sotubo