President Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday, described the Boko Haram group and its attendant ideology which loathe western education as a "fraudulent plot" designed to destroy Nigeria. Buhari's comments came barely 48 hours after he alleged a "deliberate plot" to destroy the country, which failed.
Officially known as Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād, the Boko Haram sect is an Islamic terrorist organisation that has troubled Nigeria’s north with targeted bombings and offensives since 2009.
Boko Haram, literally translating to “Western Education is forbidden” discourages involvement in any form of secularism, including secular education.
According to Buhari, the Nigerian Armed Forces has degraded the sect significantly.
In his words, “I just came back from Adamawa and Yobe States. During the visit to both states, I listened carefully to what the people and officials had to say. And they all said the situation had improved since 2015, especially in Borno State.
“Boko Haram was just fraudulent and a plot to destroy Nigeria. You can’t say people should not learn; the people need to grow intellectually,’’ he said when he received Executive members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria at the State House, Abuja.