Former Governor Fashola Speaks On Boko Haram And Islam

The immediate past Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has said that acts of terrorism currently perpetrated by the Boko Haram sect and other insurgents in the country have nothing to do with Islam.

Speaking at the public presentation of a book written by Dr. Yinka Olomojobi titled, ‘Frontiers of Jihad: Radical Islam in Africa,’ held on Tuesday at the MUSON Centre in Onikan, Lagos, Fashola noted that a religion whose foundation is peace, such as Islam, could not be the foundation or excuse for acts of murder, rape, savagery, pillaging and terror.

Commending the author of the book for intellectualising the ongoing discourse on the real identities and motives of terrorists masquerading as promoters of the Islamic faith, Fashola urged Muslims and other Nigerians not to accept any reason given by the criminals to explain their actions.

Fashola said, “It is sheer propaganda to fool the general public and to deceive gullible people in the name of a faith whose tenets they themselves breach and violate. The simple truth is that we have allowed the voices of a few criminals to rise above that of billions of law-abiding global citizens. What we are dealing with is a new wave of crime by criminals who seem to have an edge because of the need for a new global order and the gaps created by globalisation.”