The Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State on Monday, said the activities of members of the radical Islamist sect- Boko Haram is un-Islamic.
Governor Babangida Aliyu
Speaking in Kaduna at the international conference on Security and Development Challenges of Pastoralists in West and Central Africa, the governor said the terrorist group must be condemned, adding that the right Jihad in this 21st century is the one that improves the standard of living rather than seek to destroy lives.
“Boko Haram is un-islamic. Islam is about moderation and not extremism. Jihad is about how to make peace and life better, not how to kill people’’ he said.
Related: Dialogue With Boko Haram And End Insecurity- Islamic Organisation
Akinwumi Adesina, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in his remark said pastoralism has over the years been a seasonal and mutually beneficial traditional livestock management and production system which had worked well between Fulani herdsmen and local farmers.
The minister, who noted that pastoralism had become a security threat said: “Pastoralism has become a worrisome practice characterised by incessant clashes of unimaginable proportions usually resulting in huge losses of lives and property.’’
He said that previous interventions to curb pastoralists-farmers clashes had been largely unsuccessful because of the growing foreign dimension to the conflict.
Related: Nigerian Muslims Appeal To Boko Haram To Stop Killings, Accept Amnesty
Speaking at the occasion also, the Speaker of House of Representative, Aminu Tambuwal, reiterated the need to constantly create avenues where pastoralists and farmers could meet to dialogue before it result to confrontation.
According to him, if there was good communication avenue between the two classes of food producers, there would be less reason for battles.
“I urge the media to help us in this regard by resisting the urge to portray pastoralists as the eternal drivers of conflicts’’ Tambuwal said. “Sometimes, they are also victims and sometimes, it is not the herdsmen that are involved but some cattle rustlers and mercenaries. These things are more complicated than they are sometimes portrayed. I must commend the initiative of Mr. (Sambo) Dasuki (National Security Adviser) and his team and I hope that we will continue to see more of these kinds of interventions. This will help us to better understand the issues before rolling out policies for them’’.
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