Minister clarifies Nigeria’s membership of Islamic coalition

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, on Monday, said there was no big deal in Nigeria being a member of the Islamic Coalition against Terrorism put together by Saudi Arabia.


He said it was wrong to accuse the government of giving Nigeria an Islamic identity with the decision to be a member of the coalition.

Onyeama gave the clarification in an interview with State House correspondents shortly after he met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

President Muhammadu Buhari had, in an interview he granted to Al-Jazeera during his recent visit to Doha, Qatar, confirmed Nigeria’s membership of the coalition, further fuelling speculations of alleged plans to Islamise the country.

The minister said Nigerians should show more interest in the objectives of the coalition rather than look at the religious perspective.

He said because terrorism was global in outlook, Nigeria would be interested in any move to tackle it.

He said, “It has nothing to do with religion as far as Nigeria is concerned. We have to look at what the objective is. We face terror challenges and it is a global phenomenon.”

“Unfortunately, the problem we have today is that some of the terrorist groups are claiming that some of the things they are doing is in the name of a particular religion and it is clear to everybody that this is not the case. This is obviously a concern to people of the Islamic faith and Islamic countries (who are of the opinion) that their religion should (not) be so abused.”

Punch