Apart from counter-terrorism, Nigeria is also attempting to reform captured militants. More than 2,000 Boko Haram members have repented and been released back into society, a move criticized by many. Nigerian Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, pushed President Buhari to resign. The president pushed back in an op-ed submitted to CT. “We owe thanks to the Nigerian defense forces—bolstered by our partnership with the British and American militaries—that we are winning this struggle in the field,” he wrote. “But we may not, yet, be completely winning the battle for the truth.” Buhari praised the faith of Andimi and committed himself to freeing the remaining 160 Chibok schoolgirls. But he emphasized that 90 percent of Boko Haram’s victims have been Muslim. “These now failing terrorists have targeted the vulnerable, the religious, the non-religious, the young, and the old without discrimination,” he wrote. “Yet sadly, there is a tiny, if vocal, minority of so-called religious leaders—both Muslim and Christian—who appear more than prepared to take their bait and blame their opposite number.” Ayokunle questioned Buhari’s figures. “Who prepared this report for him? What statistics is he quoting from?” asked the CAN president. “He is playing politics with people’s lives.”
The Persecution of Christians Part 38
