Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s claim that 90 percent of victims of insurgency in Nigeria are Muslims amounts to rationalising the killing of innocent Nigerians.
Buhari stated this in an opinion article published in a Christian news outlet, Christianity Today.
According to the president, the 2014 kidnap of 276 Chibok girls, shooting inside mosques and murder of two prominent imams among others prove that Muslims are the worst-hit by the insurgents.
Buhari, who lamented the killing of Rev. Lawan Andimi, CAN Chairman in Michika LGA in Adamawa State by insurgents on January 20, appealed to Nigerians, especially religious leaders, not to allow terrorists escalate religious disharmony in the country.
But Atiku, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019, who reacted to the comment on Twitter, maintained that all lives are precious irrespective of religion.
In the tweet which he personally wrote and shared on his verified Twitter handle, Atiku stated: “We mustn’t rationalise killings.
“Whether Christian, Muslim, Traditionalist, or Atheist, the killing of any human being, by Boko Haram, or any misguided group, is wrong & should be condemned unequivocally.
“There is no compulsion in religion. Only love.”
See tweet:
We mustn’t rationalise killings. Whether Christian, Muslim, Traditionalist, or Atheist, the killing of any human being, by Boko Haram, or any misguided group, is wrong & should be condemned unequivocally. There is no compulsion in religion. Only love.-AAhttps://t.co/1Dk8SGLIgc
— Atiku Abubakar (@atiku) February 5, 2020
Meanwhile, former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode described the president’s statement claim as a “lie”.
Read Also: Antonio Valencia, last player to use Man Utd’s No 25 shirt, speaks about Ighalo