Also published in Daily Trust
Though during his recent visit to Riyadh,
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, President Muhammadu Buhari made a rather ambiguous
statement, which some reporters interpreted as Nigeria’s rejection to join the
newly formed Saudi-led Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism (IMAFT), he
later made it clear during his subsequent visit to Doha, State of Qatar, that
Nigeria had indeed joined the military coalition.
Given the unmistakable religious identity of
the military alliance, and the longstanding, albeit largely politically
motivated, rivalry between the two main religious adherents in Nigeria i.e.
Muslims and Christians, President Buhari’s statement has, ever since then,
continued to generate controversy over the justifiability or otherwise of
Nigeria’s decision to join it.
