Secretary General of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Lateef Adegbite has clarified his earlier statement asking the United States Government to slow down in her effort to designate the insurgent group, Boko Haram as a terrorist group.

In a brief interview with Citizen Journalist Segun O’Law in Lagos, the Islamic cleric dissociated the Muslims from the activities of Boko Haram, suggested ways to end the group’s insurgency and expressed concern over the likelihood that the group may have been infiltrated by foreign extremist insurgents. He also proffered National Conference as an avenue for Nigeria to make progress .

Interview text:

Your recent statement asking the United States to exercise caution in listing Boko Haram as a terrorist group has attracted various comments and suspicions regarding the relationship of the Islam Supreme Council of Nigeria with the insurgent sect. Can you shed more light on the position of the Islamic community with regards to the activities of Boko Haram?

Our position has been made abundantly clear. As the highest Islamic organization in the country, we have been seriously concerned about the activities of this insurgency group, and we have made it very clear that we dissociate ourselves entirely from their activities. We do not believe that what they are doing is in the interest of Islam. Islam is not a religion of violence. Islam is a religion of peace and is strongly against bloodletting.

Islam says if you kill anybody, not that if you kill a Non-Muslim, it is like killing a whole nation. So, we dissociated ourselves from them, and we have made public statements in this regard.

If the Islam Supreme Council has nothing to do with this group, then why speak on their behalf to request that the U.S. halt the decision to enlist the group as a terrorist group?

Well, that is very good. I think people misunderstood my statement. What I said was that the United States Government should give the Nigerian government more time to deal effectively with these people, and they are already making progress. I asked the United States to step slowly because of two fundamental repercussions. One, it will undermine our sovereignty.

These people are faceless, and you can not determine who is and who is not. The United States with their technological resources can attack anyone from anywhere, and most targets would be innocent people. It happened in Pakistan and also in Afghanistan. So, that is our first concern.

The second concern is the difficulty that such a declaration would bring on Nigerians generally, especially the traveling Nigerians. The security personnel at the service of the United States may classify anybody as a Boko Haram member, from just looking at the person. We have seen that happening, where people with beards and Islamic garbs are mischaracterized as terrorists. That will make life difficult for the Nigerian citizens. But if they do their research carefully and identify these people, like they have identified some leaders who are terrorists, let them deal with them.

We are not happy with the way they make life unbearable for people, Muslims and Non-Muslims alike. We want them to be flushed out, so we are not protecting them, far from it. But we want discretion to be exercised to avoid indiscriminate persecution of Nigerians by the foreign governments.

But as it were now, are you saying you do not know the Boko Haram people?

No, no, no. I do not know any Boko Haram member. If I see anyone, I’ll hand him over immediately to the government.

But they claim that they are fighting the Islamic cause, so how come you do not know them?

I say they are wrongly claiming to be doing so. They are not doing it on our behalf, and we do not accept what they are doing. We have had the existence and practice of Islam for about 1,000 years in Nigeria, and things are going on well.

Terrorist threats in Nigeria come mostly from people who profess Islam. Recall the case of Abdulmutallab who attempted bombing an airliner over Detroit in Michigan, and now it is Boko Haram, also professing Islam. What explanation does the Islam Society of Nigeria have on this?

You can not conclude by citing those cases that all Muslims are therefore terrorists. We are not happy about all these developments. You know there are many people there in the world, who have grievances, and though some of the grievances by some people may be justified but they are using unlawful way to express those grievances. It should not be through violence. It is just a pity that the one facing us here is coming from people who say they are Muslims, but you should also note that there are other countries in the world experiencing similar conflicts that are non-Muslims.

What do you think is the cause of Boko Haram Insurgency and how do you think Nigeria can come out of this?

Well, first, some elements in some parts of the country believe that they are not receiving their fair share in the scheme of things. They feel that they have been marginalized, and they think that the cause of this is the western civilization that has been imported and is made supreme and that therefore, they are left out. And then, they resolved to the slogan that western education is a sin, an abomination, which is ‘Boko Haram’. But that is a faulty premise. It is not the system that has kept them out of being part of it; it is instead their own making because many of them refused to receive Western Education, and then they are caught in the cold. Their mates have become Councilors, Chairmen of councils, members of the House of Representatives and even Governors. But then, their leaders are literates, they have received western education, they are using gadgets produced through western education and most of them are also employed in organizations that have western education foundation.

I believe they could seek a peaceful presentation of their grievances with the government authorities, and they can both look into what they want and what they could do together, rather than resort to violence. Now that the insurgency is so deep, I think that the Nigerian government should intensify attacks on them and find them out and deal with them according to law. Government should also use a diplomatic and tactful approach to approach and win over the moderate ones among them and re-orientate them back into the society. So that when the most defiant ones among them see that the moderate ones have negotiated with the government and are getting incentives, trainings and good employments, they will declare that they renounce rebellion, just like the Niger Delta militants.

But the Niger Delta Militants are identifiable…

Yes, I think that is the big problem. They are faceless and that even makes them more dangerous, but I do not think that they are only Nigerians now. I am suspecting that there has been a significant infiltration of well trained rebels. They are either fanatical rebel from North Africa, from Somalia or even from Libya because their expertise is far from what I think could be from our locales, and that adds another dimension to it. So, the federal government must look into that. We now have to make sure that our borders are better protected; we have to make sure that we keep the infiltrators out and also make sure that weapons are not smuggled into the country. But then, there is also a social aspect to it, which I mentioned in that statement. There is too much poverty in the land, and the federal government should do more to eradicate poverty. The government should provide more employment for the people because an idle hand is the devil's workshop. These people are cheaply recruited because they will accept anything, apart from the fanatical ones among them that are ready to die due to misguidance. I believe that Nigeria is ripe enough to have Social Security System. Government should employ as many Nigerians as possible. Even those that are not employed should be given loans and trainings so that they can stand on their own.

What is your view on Sovereign National Conference?

Well, I will not call it Sovereign National Conference because it has aroused a lot of emotions. I will call it National Conference, conference of all Nigerians, to look into our circumstances and the people’s constitution. It is not the one that they say the National Assembly wants to amend the constitution, no, no, no. we should have a proper National Conference, a Constituents Assembly. The draft constitution adopted by the National Conference will then become the People’s Constitution.

Finally, some citizens have formed the opinion that Nigeria is a forced union and that those rebellious escalations will keep happening except we split up. What’s your take on that?

That is not a popular view. It is only the idea of some extremists. We have been living together as Nigerians for almost 100 years. In 2014, we will be celebrating the centenary of the amalgamation of the North and South. We have been living together, although there are certain policies, actions and attitudes that we should sit together and look into. When we all sit together, we will all find a solution without a break-up.


Source:http://saharareporters.com/interview/i-dont-know-boko-haram-members-alhaji-lateef-adegbite-speaks-terrorist-designation-boko-ha

To Alhaji Latéef Adegbite may Almight Allah in his inifinite mercy continue to strengthing you in all your Endaviours (Amin)
To so called people of Boko Haram kindly give Peace a chance for the sake of Al-Islam and the future of our Nation.
To all the enemies of Islam; may Allah or God Reward you all accordly(Amin).

^funny how you diffentiate between boko haram and the "enemies of Islam".

if boko haram are friends of Islam, then good luck to you.



lord have mercy.

Alh. Lateef believes in his mind that his has made diplomatic statements that will allow any foreign interest see Boko-Haram as legitimately presenting their grievances to the Federal Government. It is obvious to anyone reading his statements that he is only playing a soft-tune but his intentions and approval of Boko-Haram are in line with Islamic injunctions. American Government is not dumb, they have had decades of history dealing with ISLAMIC Terrorists. they can undermine the Nigerian Government definitely, all it takes is to identify a few Colonels in the Military (They are already fractured North and others already) and fund them adequately to eliminate our corrupt political and religions leaders (what a glorious day it would be) . You can sing romantic berber tunes but all the evidence since the past 30 years identifies who is funding boko-haram, how and why ISLAM is not a Religion of Peace, but one of Fatal Violence and Fear. This is the only Weapon available to ISLAM and it is the lowest and basest of human emotions, (FEAR and VIOLENCE) ISLAM has absolutely nothing to offer humanity but these two actions.

I patiently searched through the unfortunate interview for words like, "I condemn boko haram in its entirety," but such words will evidently never come from Lateef Adegbite, who referred to boko haram as "our people" in the first interview that rightly led us to suspect he too was a boko haram member.

lagerwhenindoubt: Alh. Lateef believes in his mind that his has made diplomatic statements that will allow any foreign interest see Boko-Haram as legitimately presenting their grievances to the Federal Government. It is obvious to anyone reading his statements that he is only playing a soft-tune but his intentions and approval of Boko-Haram are in line with Islamic injunctions. American Government is not dumb, they have had decades of history dealing with ISLAMIC Terrorists. they can undermine the Nigerian Government definitely, all it takes is to identify a few Colonels in the Military (They are already fractured North and others already) and fund them adequately to eliminate our corrupt political and religions leaders (what a glorious day it would be) . You can sing romantic berber tunes but all the evidence since the past 30 years identifies who is funding boko-haram, how and why ISLAM is not a Religion of Peace, but one of Fatal Violence and Fear. This is the only Weapon available to ISLAM and it is the lowest and basest of human emotions, (FEAR and VIOLENCE) ISLAM has absolutely nothing to offer humanity but these two actions.

Bro, let us leave Islam out of this, otherwise we heading into a tunnel with no end.
It is not about Islam, but what humans make of their beliefs. The terrorist lords army in Uganda is Christian, for example.
Lets deal with men as they come, boko haram is political, not religious.

Beaf:

Bro, let us leave Islam out of this, otherwise we heading into a tunnel with no end.
It is not about Islam, but what humans make of their beliefs. The terrorist lords army in Uganda is Christian, for example.
Lets deal with men as they come, boko haram is political, not religious.

You are right, BH and its apologists are only a minority - The Political game that is presently playing out requires a widening PR awareness locally and internationally. Nigeria is slowly being dragged in the mud of terrorist waters by selfish, corrupt and in-human political groups intent of causing as many deaths as possible to exploit emotions and sentiments that can ruin this administration

lagerwhenindoubt:

You are right, BH and its apologists are only a minority - The Political game that is presently playing out requires a widening PR awareness locally and internationally. Nigeria is slowly being dragged in the mud of terrorist waters by selfish, corrupt and in-human political groups intent of causing as many deaths as possible to exploit emotions and sentiments that can ruin this administration

IMHO, whenever we think boko haram, we should be thinking long term. Their entire plot is about 2015, now imagine this was election year: quite clearly elections will either not hold in the core-North or they will hold under boko harams complete control in an amplified version of the violence that took youth corpers like AikFavour after he refused to register child voters and hand over documents for thumbprinting.

When we look at boko haram in this light, we quickly see that there is a macabre design to their madness. Kano and Kaduna where their operations have intensified, are the states with the largest and densest populations in the North. If they terrorise and traumatise those two states, especially Southern Kaduna that always votes with the Middle Belt, then they can assure themselves of stunning "victories."
For the same reasons outlined above, it is my thinking that they wish to terrorise and drive out the huge Southern (primarily Igbo) populations in the North and then use their voters details to rig 2015. At least a third of the populations of Kano and Kaduna are either Igbo's or Yoruba's from Ogbomoso.

It is a strategy to win with mind control (hence the use of Islam) and by blood and terror.

lagerwhenindoubt: Alh. Lateef believes in his mind that his has made diplomatic statements that will allow any foreign interest see Boko-Haram as legitimately presenting their grievances to the Federal Government. It is obvious to anyone reading his statements that he is only playing a soft-tune but his intentions and approval of Boko-Haram are in line with Islamic injunctions. American Government is not dumb, they have had decades of history dealing with ISLAMIC Terrorists. they can undermine the Nigerian Government definitely, all it takes is to identify a few Colonels in the Military (They are already fractured North and others already) and fund them adequately to eliminate our corrupt political and religions leaders (what a glorious day it would be) . You can sing romantic berber tunes but all the evidence since the past 30 years identifies who is funding boko-haram, how and why ISLAM is not a Religion of Peace, but one of Fatal Violence and Fear. This is the only Weapon available to ISLAM and it is the lowest and basest of human emotions, (FEAR and VIOLENCE) ISLAM has absolutely nothing to offer humanity but these two actions.

hmmmmmm

Beaf:

IMHO, whenever we think boko haram, we should be thinking long term. Their entire plot is about 2015, now imagine this was election year: quite clearly elections will either not hold in the core-North or they will hold under boko harams complete control in an amplified version of the violence that took youth corpers like AikFavour after he refused to register child voters and hand over documents for thumbprinting.

When we look at boko haram in this light, we quickly see that there is a macabre design to their madness. Kano and Kaduna where their operations have intensified, are the states with the largest and densest populations in the North. If they terrorise and traumatise those two states, especially Southern Kaduna that always votes with the Middle Belt, then they can assure themselves of stunning "victories."
For the same reasons outlined above, it is my thinking that they wish to terrorise and drive out the huge Sothern (primarily Igbo) populations in the North and then use their voters details to rig 2015. At least a third of the populations of Kano and Kaduna are either Igbo's or Yoruba's from Ogbomoso.

It is a strategy to win with mind control (hence the use of Islam) and by blood and terror.

we are not fools,we know all their plans,but signing their signature of greed in blood will only destroy them further.......no amount of intimidation or level of violence or media propaganda will save them. I am sad for the gullible who are allowing themselves to be used,even on NL,who cannot see beyond the bridge of their nose,and go about hailing these vampires and demons as heroes.

Beaf:

IMHO, whenever we think boko haram, we should be thinking long term. Their entire plot is about 2015, now imagine this was election year: quite clearly elections will either not hold in the core-North or they will hold under boko harams complete control in an amplified version of the violence that took youth corpers like AikFavour after he refused to register child voters and hand over documents for thumbprinting.

When we look at boko haram in this light, we quickly see that there is a macabre design to their madness. Kano and Kaduna where their operations have intensified, are the states with the largest and densest populations in the North. If they terrorise and traumatise those two states, especially Southern Kaduna that always votes with the Middle Belt, then they can assure themselves of stunning "victories."
For the same reasons outlined above, it is my thinking that they wish to terrorise and drive out the huge Southern (primarily Igbo) populations in the North and then use their voters details to rig 2015. At least a third of the populations of Kano and Kaduna are either Igbo's or Yoruba's from Ogbomoso.

It is a strategy to win with mind control (hence the use of Islam) and by blood and terror.

I believe you are absolutely right,theirs is a campaign of terror,to use fear to subjugate and control the reasoning of the people of that region,it is all a mind game,and I fear they are achieving their aim,but I strongly believe that although theirs is a long term plan they shall be brought their knees and shall bow to the law before 2015.

Hmm, Boko Haram are Islamic movement workers.

If we have sound and prosperous country, calling for shariah law by the Muslims would have not look strange.