Buratai
Lt Gen Tukur Buratai, the Chief of Army Staff, has said that
terrorism and terrorist groups could not be eliminated alone by the
military unless religious bodies and organisations in the country come
to the “forefront of this spiritual battle.”
The Punch reports that the army chief noted that the focus must be
religious groups interfacing on addressing the ideologies which fuelled
the Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists.
Buratai stated these on Monday in Abuja at a spiritual warfare seminar at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre with the theme, “countering insurgency and violent extremism in Nigeria through spiritual warfare.”
The army chief, who was represented by the Chief of Administration,
Maj Gen Sani Yusuf, therefore, urges Islamic and Christian clerics
across the army formations to join the fight against terrorism, and
reorient the people against negative ideologies.
Buratai said, “It is easier to defeat Boko Haram and ISWAP
terrorists than their ideology because while we degrade the terrorists
and their havens, the narrative of the ideology grows the group.
“Therefore, communities, families, and groups should join in the fight
and narratives to reject and prevent the ideologies of the terrorists
and extremist groups.
“Religious bodies and organisations in particular who interface
regularly with the grassroots should be at the forefront of this
spiritual battle and fashion out ways of stepping up their roles.
“The fight against terrorism, Boko Haram and ISWAP, as well as other
security threats, cannot be left to the troops in the battlefield alone.
Yes, we will do our duties but the need to tackle groups through
spiritual warfare and reorientating the followers against the ideology
is also a necessity.
“It is a well-known fact that terrorism and terrorist groups cannot be
totally eliminated by mainly military actions. This means focusing our
efforts on the underlying narratives through ideologies that are
employed by these terrorists to lure innocent citizens to their fold.
“The need to defeat the ideologies of Boko Haram and ISWAP is based on
the awareness that it is the ideologies that enhance their resources and
help to recruit new fighters to their fold and as such; kill their
ideology and the terrorist movement withers and dies.”
The army chief added that religious leaders and clerics who regularly
interfaced with members of the society must “fashion out ways of
stepping up your roles, remembering that the fight against terrorism is a
collective responsibility.”