By Bashir Mohammed
Kano
Former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd), has described the atrocities committed by the Boko Haram militias “unIslamic” and, therefore, called for an all-out-war against them.
Speaking in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service monitored in Kano, Babangida said the abduction of the Chibok school girls was a regrettable calamity that had befallen Nigerians irrespective of one’s religious or ethnic affiliation. He stressed that with the Boko Haram menace taking a toll on the nation the insurgents must be fought to a standstill.
He said no religion had ever legitimised committing atrocities against innocent people, lLamenting that scores of people had been savagely killed, maimed and insulted in the name of Boko Haram Jihadists’ warfare.
He said: “The issue of Boko Haram is not about one is a Christian or a Muslim. It is a national calamity that should be confronted with temerity and courage.
The abducted school girls are our daughters and we must show our concern about their plight. Boko Haram is a disaster that has befallen the nation.”
He said there was no point in apportioning blame or casting a slur on the federal government for failing to nip the insurgency in the bud, adding that it was an abiding obligation on every Nigerian to join hands in exterminating the menace.
On US, Britain, France and China’s offer to assist Nigeria in rescuing the abducted Chibok school girls, IBB said the move should not be misconstrued as a covert imperialist expansionist design to re-colonise Nigeria, adding that it was borne out of their sympathy for the innocent school girls.
“We have every reason to give them kudos for their concern about the saga.
They should be commended for taken steps to assist in the war against the menace of insurgency in Nigeria.”
He added that in every foreign intervention, there were rules of engagement which could be negotiated, stressing that the federal government was at an ample liberty to set conditions before any external intervention was agree upon.