By Our Reporter
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has said that no fewer than 13,000 terrorists have been killed and 17,000 others arrested since the inauguration of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration on May 29, 2023.
The minister made this known on Friday while appearing as a guest on on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.
His remarks followed a recent hearing by the United States House sub-Committee on Africa, over Nigeria’s redesignation as a "Country of Particular Concern," following allegations of Christian genocide in the country.
Representative Bill Huizenga had, during the hearing, accused President Tinubu-led government of downplaying the killings, noting the failure to confront repeated, persistent attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria.
Idris, in his response, stated that the administration had recorded successes in the fight against terrorism and was making a lot of progress in that direction.
"I think sometimes, we forget about some of the successes that we have recorded in the fight against these bandits, criminals, and some of these jihadists.
"We’ve had a lot of progress in that direction. From May of 2023 to date, over 13,500 of these criminals – these are figures from the security agencies – have been neutralised, or taken out of our society.
"Over 17,000 have been apprehended. Many of them, even as we speak today, some of them have had their days in court, some of them have been sentenced," the minister said.
The minister stated that the president was "deeply saddened" by the killings in the country, declaring that no one should lose his or her life regardless of the faith he or she belongs.
"The president is deeply saddened. The administration is generally deeply saddened. We don’t need to have a situation where anybody, for that matter, is killed, whether he’s Christian or Muslim. That is one.
"Wherever that person may be, it’s not good for our country, it’s not good for anybody. No one should be happy that anybody is losing his or her life for no just reason," he said.
Idris, however, dismissed the "characterisation" of the crisis as being targeted against one religious group, adding that the government acknowledged that there were killings across the country.
"Do we have people killed? Yes. Is it a good thing? No. Is the government doing anything about it? Quite a lot.
"But there is something very fundamental that we all need to talk about. And that is the designation or the perception in some form, some quarters that there is what is called religious genocide in Nigeria.
"No, there isn’t. What we are seeing is that people are being killed, Christians are being killed in some parts, just as Muslims are being killed. It’s a sad one. No one should be happy for that,” the minister stated.
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