President Muhammadu Buhari has described those who shout “Allah is great’ before killing innocent people as mentally deranged.
Speaking through the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, at the launch of the
revised National Counter Terrorism Strategy, NACTEST, in Abuja, Mr
President said “it is either they do not know the meaning of those words
or they are simply deranged.”
The President noted that “these enemies (Boko Haram) are essentially an insane nuisance because they revel in cowardly attacks.”
Explaining that the war against terrorism was unconventional, the
President said that his government will continue to improve its strategy
in a bid to win the war against insurgents.
Buhari said, “There must be an understanding that the war against
terrorism is the most unconventional one. They (terrorists) do not
respect any rules of engagement; kill the defenseless including
prisoners, use children and humans, girls and consider the killing of
anyone at all at a victory.
“Therefore as we think through our strategy we must remember that to
permanently win the physical battle, we must win the battle of the minds
of even the most impressionable young men who sign up to join Boko
Haram and other violent extremist groups.
“We must understand that terrorism is essentially a psychological
warfare and as such is psychologically sophisticated and we must educate
the youth through the leadership of our faith that neither Islam nor
any other religion that we know endorses the slaughter of anyone.
“In the past few years our nation faced the threat of terrorism
characterized by mindless killing of our people including children.”