Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture on Thursday stated that the Boko Haram insurgents and the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWAP), have changed their strategy by deliberately targeting Christians to trigger a religious war and throw the nation into chaos.
Some of the recent attacks by the insurgents include the attack on a Christian village, Kwarangulum, near Chibok; the killing of the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)
in Michika local government in Adamawa, Lawan Andimi; the killing of Ropvil Daciya Dalep, a student who was also a member of the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN); and the killing of 11 Christians on Christmas eve, last year.
Mohammed said the above attacks fit into the new strategy as the insurgents had realised how emotive and divisive religion can be when exploited by unscrupulous persons.
The minister recalled that Boko Haram insurgents previously didn’t discriminate between Christians and Muslims when they carried out their attacks in the past, as Churches and mosques, Christians and Muslims were attacked without discrimination.
“But in the wake of a renewed onslaught by our tireless military against Boko Haram and their ISWAP allies in recent times, the insurgents have apparently changed their strategy. They have started targeting Christians and Christian villages for a specific reason, which is to trigger a religious war and throw the nation into chaos,” Mohammed said at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday.
The minister therefore appealed to all religious leaders, both Christians and Muslims, not to fall for “this desperate move by the insurgents, not to allow them to divide us as a people and weaken our resolve to deal the insurgents the mortal blow.
“In addition, we must also give our unalloyed support to the military, which has also upped the ante against the insurgents. The resort to the increasing use of Guerrilla tactics by the insurgents is a sign of weakness on their part,” he said.
He remarked that the war against the insurgents by the military is paying off handsomely.
These according to him include the killing of top ISWAP leaders at two separate meeting venues at Marte Local Government in Borno State a few days ago, a successful attack against the leadership of Boko Haram in Alafa Yagayaga in Borno earlier this month, the killing of Boko Haram Chief Judge in Lake Chad among others.
