The National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), has said that
the Federal Government’s counter-insurgency campaign is not against
Muslims in the country.
The NSA said this on Tuesday during the inauguration of a programme tagged, “Nigeria’s Soft Approach to Countering Terrorism” in Abuja
The NSA stated that efforts would be made to ensure that the fight against terrorism was not misinterpreted to mean a fight against Muslims.
Dasuki described the terrorists as an influential minority, whose harmful activities had brought ridicule to Muslims and their religion in the society.
He stated, “Counter-terrorism is not against Muslims…(and) we will ensure that the fight against terror is not misconstrued by Muslims in Nigeria as a fight against them.
“The terrorists are an influential minority, who live with and claim to be Muslims but through their activities bring harm and ridicule to Muslims and the religion of Islam. Concerted efforts are being made to isolate the terrorists from the communities in which they find sanctuary.
“The ideology of terrorism will be defeated through mainstream Muslims in Nigeria. Our approach seeks to enlist and build capacity for counter-terrorism cooperation among Muslims by exposing the true intent and form of government that the terrorist groups seek to impose.”
According to Dasuki, terrorists are desperate to ignite a religious war between Nigerian Christians and Muslims in order to actualise a war scenario that will aid their operations.
To counter this, the NSA said his office would launch an aggressive inter-faith response between Christians and Muslims to create awareness on terrorism.
He stated, “Our major goal is to unite Nigerian Muslims and Christians against terrorism.
“Government will build inter-party collaboration for counter-terrorism to ensure that party affiliations do not hinder stakeholders from contributing to efforts targeted at countering extremism.”
Dasuki also said that the Federal Government had designed some programmes that would prevent attacks by terrorists.
This, he said, would be done by preventing Nigerians from becoming terrorists.
The NSA said that the Economic Intelligence Unit of his office was exploring effective interventions to achieve its goal of terrorism prevention.
Dasuki explained that the government’s re-radicalisation programme would be prison-based, adding that it would be anchored by the Ministry of Interior and the Nigerian Prison Service.
He said that the initiative would require capacity building of prison staff in areas such as psychology, sports and arts therapy.
The NSA also stated that faith-based instructors and vocational training experts would be engaged.
At the event, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN), said that any sustainable counter-terrorism approach must be done within the confines of the law.
Adoke noted that terrorism cases were being prosecuted in a record time of six months unlike before when it would take between seven and eight years.
He said that within the last six to eight months, there had been eight convictions on terrorism related cases.
The NSA said this on Tuesday during the inauguration of a programme tagged, “Nigeria’s Soft Approach to Countering Terrorism” in Abuja
The NSA stated that efforts would be made to ensure that the fight against terrorism was not misinterpreted to mean a fight against Muslims.
Dasuki described the terrorists as an influential minority, whose harmful activities had brought ridicule to Muslims and their religion in the society.
He stated, “Counter-terrorism is not against Muslims…(and) we will ensure that the fight against terror is not misconstrued by Muslims in Nigeria as a fight against them.
“The terrorists are an influential minority, who live with and claim to be Muslims but through their activities bring harm and ridicule to Muslims and the religion of Islam. Concerted efforts are being made to isolate the terrorists from the communities in which they find sanctuary.
“The ideology of terrorism will be defeated through mainstream Muslims in Nigeria. Our approach seeks to enlist and build capacity for counter-terrorism cooperation among Muslims by exposing the true intent and form of government that the terrorist groups seek to impose.”
According to Dasuki, terrorists are desperate to ignite a religious war between Nigerian Christians and Muslims in order to actualise a war scenario that will aid their operations.
To counter this, the NSA said his office would launch an aggressive inter-faith response between Christians and Muslims to create awareness on terrorism.
He stated, “Our major goal is to unite Nigerian Muslims and Christians against terrorism.
“Government will build inter-party collaboration for counter-terrorism to ensure that party affiliations do not hinder stakeholders from contributing to efforts targeted at countering extremism.”
Dasuki also said that the Federal Government had designed some programmes that would prevent attacks by terrorists.
This, he said, would be done by preventing Nigerians from becoming terrorists.
The NSA said that the Economic Intelligence Unit of his office was exploring effective interventions to achieve its goal of terrorism prevention.
Dasuki explained that the government’s re-radicalisation programme would be prison-based, adding that it would be anchored by the Ministry of Interior and the Nigerian Prison Service.
He said that the initiative would require capacity building of prison staff in areas such as psychology, sports and arts therapy.
The NSA also stated that faith-based instructors and vocational training experts would be engaged.
At the event, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN), said that any sustainable counter-terrorism approach must be done within the confines of the law.
Adoke noted that terrorism cases were being prosecuted in a record time of six months unlike before when it would take between seven and eight years.
He said that within the last six to eight months, there had been eight convictions on terrorism related cases.
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