Key Points
- Boko Haram fights war of evil, not religion or humanity.
- Irabor urges moral revival, stronger values, and united national front.
- Faith leaders, diplomats back Nigeria’s counterterrorism and peace initiatives.
General Lucky Irabor, who used to be Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, says that the Boko Haram insurgency that is destroying parts of the North is not a religious struggle but a planned “war of evil” fuelled by greed, extremism, and the deliberate misinterpretation of faith.
Irabor said this at the National Security and Peace Symposium in Abuja, which was put on by the Centre for Strategic Studies and Development. There, diplomats, religious leaders, and security analysts looked at the causes of violent extremism in Nigeria. He called the story that Boko Haram is fighting a holy war “a tragic lie” that people who want to destabilise the country are spreading.
Boko Haram is fighting an evil war, not a religious one
Irabor said in his main speech, “The things that Boko Haram does have nothing to do with Islam or Christianity.” “This is a war of evil against people—a deliberate effort to tear apart Nigeria’s moral and national fabric.”
According to a report by Vanguard news, Irabor, who was the 17th Chief of Defence Staff from 2021 to 2023 under former President Muhammadu Buhari, talked about his time in charge of military operations like Operation Hadin Kai and Operation Safe Haven. He said that a number of captured rebels admitted that they were being used by political and financial backers who took advantage of the fact that people in rural areas are poor and don’t know how to read.
He says that the real problem now is not just the gunmen who carry out terrorism, but the ideas that support it. He went on to say, “You can win the battle with weapons, but the war will only be won with education, fairness, and faith in our shared humanity.”
Calls for moral awakening and unity
Irabor praised President Bola Tinubu’s new plan to fight terrorism, but he stressed that military action alone can’t bring about lasting peace. He said, “To defeat evil, we must rebuild trust and make our moral institutions—schools, families, and places of worship—stronger.”
Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai (retired), who used to be the Chief of Army Staff, said at the same event that Nigeria needs to use both kinetic and non-kinetic strategies to deal with the social causes of terrorism. Sheikh Ibrahim Khalil, a cleric from Kano, and Reverend Moses Adedayo of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) also spoke out against the misuse of religion by violent extremists and called for continued collaboration between different faiths.
Faith leaders support the national resolve
Representatives from the United Nations and the African Union were there and promised to keep working together on counterterrorism programs in the Sahel region. Grace Okon, the UN’s security envoy, said that the organisation backs Nigeria’s plan to include community involvement in its fight against insurgency.
Irabor ended his speech with a warning: “Boko Haram may claim to be religious, but its mission is evil.” Nigeria should never let evil shape our faith or our future.
