By Haroon Balogun

Dr Saheed Timehin, a member of Nigeria Inter-religious Council has appealed to the Nigerian Media not to attribute Boko Haram activities to Islam, adding that activities of the insurgents are anti-Islam. Timehin who was reacting to questions from newsmen during a press conference on the 100 years celebration of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in Nigeria, held at Ojokoro, Lagos said: “The fact that the insurgents speak Arabic does not mean they are Muslims, Arabic is a language.

“The Media has not been fair particularly to Islam in the reportage of Boko Haram insurgency. They call it Islamic terrorists or Islamic group. There is a group in Uganda which has been terrorising the country for over 25 years, nobody has called them Christian terrorists.  Every religion is inherently revolutionary. “It depends on the interpretation you give to the religion’s ideals.  Muslims have been crying loud and clear that Islam has nothing to do with this but yet the media still call them Islamic groups.

“Recall that when a group of Christians were celebrating Easter in a church, some Muslim youths formed a ring round the Church to prevent any attack on the Christians. It was reported during the OAU in Cotonou that the incident was not well reported in Nigeria’s media. International bodies already knew that Muslims in the north will provide security for the Christians during worship to prevent any attack on them. If such thing was well reported, it would have informed people well that the whole thing about Boko Haram is not about Islam. So, when an individual misbehaves, it is not the religion that encourages such.

Professor of Arabic language

“Arabic is a language we all learn.  Incidentally the first professor of Arabic language in Yoruba-land is a Christian. He has trained generations of youths both Muslims and non-Muslims in the language. He was even recognised by the Saudi authority. Prof Kole Omotosho, a christian also got a Ph.D in Arabic Drama from University of London and also University of Ibadan but people know him more in Dramatic Arts but he actually studied Arabic.

“In the same vein, we have Arabs who are neither Muslims nor Christians. Remember again that the Shuwa Arabs are more in the north who speak Arabic as their mother language. So, it is possible that this Boko Haram drew most of their followers from that area. He added that “when the United States said Nigeria government was not sincere in fighting insurgency then, we thought they didn’t want to help but with the recent development, we can conclude that they knew what they were talking about”.