President Muhammadu Buhari, has urged religious leaders to support the Federal Government’s in its efforts at stripping Boko Haram of its religious pretensions.
The President made the appeal yesterday in Abuja when he received in audience the Ecuador’s new Ambassador to Nigeria, Leopoldo Rovayo Verdesoto.
He said the religious leaders’ collaboration with government would fully expose the group’s viciousness “as terrorists, devoid of any moral or philosophical direction”.
Buhari noted that so much ground has been covered in the attempt to properly expose Boko Haram members as “ruthless, destructive, and misguided terrorists’’.
“What we have succeeded in doing is to separate terrorism from religion.
“The initial attraction for recruitments was religion, but now people cannot relate with their relevance anymore and they are only associated with the destruction of lives and property.
“If your life does not mean anything to you, other peoples’ lives will not mean anything to you as well.
“And people are beginning to see that Boko Haram is just about destruction and nothing else,’’ he said.
The President also told the new ambassador that his administration would continue to prioritise diversification and other measures to help the Nigeria’s economy withstand the shock of falling oil prices.
Verdesoto was at the Presidential Villa to present his letter of credence to President Buhari.
The President also received the letters of credence of the new Ambassador of Zambia, Dr. Solomon Jere and the new Ambassador of Colombia, Ms Claudia Turbay Quintereo.
He wished all the three new ambassadors successful stay in Nigeria.