by Tobi Aworinde
President Goodluck Jonathan insisted yesterday that nobody should associate the activities of terrorist groups across the world, including the Boko Haram sect, to the Islamic religion.
“What is happening globally now has no religious basis. Only yesterday, a British aid worker was slaughtered by ISIS and that is not Islamic. Boko Haram killing innocent children and women in market places, in mosques and in schools definitely has nothing to do with religion,” the President said.
Speaking when Vice President Namadi Sambo led a delegation of the Muslim community to pay him Sallah homage at his residence in the Presidential Villa, Jonathan observed that there was nothing Islamic about the gory activities and gruesome killings being carried out by Boko Haram sect in Nigeria or Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Iraq who are lurking under Islam to unleash terror.
On this year’s Eid-el-Kabir, he noted that the Sallah celebration was significant because of certain natural occurrences happening coincidentally, adding that they were manifestation that something good was about to happen to Nigeria.
The President said, “This year is quite significant in terms of celebration of Sallah, because the day of Arafat coincided with a Friday, and from what I was told, it takes a long time to have that coincidence. And remembering the fact that 2014 is our centenary year, it shows that something good is happening to this country.
“We may have our challenges as other nations, but when things begin to happen in a particular way, I begin to see light at the end of the tunnel. A number of things that have to do with our belief system suppose to encourage us to see our neighbours as ourselves,” the President said.
