Eid-el-Kabir: Buhari sends strong message to Muslims, Nigerians

President Muhammadu Buhari said on Saturday that the highest commitment to Islam is that Muslims put into practice their good virtues and that justice and righteousness be the guiding principle of their daily lives.

Buhari said this in his message from Eid el-Kabir, Sallah issued by his Higher Special Assistant in Media and Advertising, Garba Shehu.

He said, “We should be the mirror through which others see the excellent virtues of our faith. “Islam is a religion of peace, and we must avoid violent extremist ideas that give Islam a wrong name because our behavior leaves positive impressions more lasting than what we say by word of mouth.”

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Buhari lamented that “violent extremism is the biggest challenge facing Islam today and the only way we can neutralize its evil influence is to distance ourselves from the activities and teachings of those who preach indiscriminate violence against innocent people. ”

He also advised parents to “protect their children from deadly exposure to violent extremists who manipulate and exploit those children for their evil agenda.”

The President said that “Boko Haram became a mortal force and a great scourge of security because Muslim societies were indifferent from the beginning to the activities of extremist preachers who manipulate innocent and credulous followers.” He said that “extremism is like cancer, which must be detected and destroyed from its early stages of growth.”

Buhari, however, assured Nigerians that the terrorism of Boko Haram, kidnappings, and other forms of banditry “would be treated without compromise until we see the back of these evils that affect our country.”

“Despite occasional setbacks,” the President explained that “Boko Haram militants have been weakened and dispersed militarily by our Armed Forces that are no longer in a position to occupy any part of Nigeria, let alone hoist their flag and impose his reign of terror for more than 24 hours. “”

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“As our armed forces become more equipped and trained, in addition to being more motivated and revitalized, this administration relentlessly commits itself to protect Nigerians no matter what it takes to end this evil permanently,” said the President to the Nigerians.

He advised Muslims to be tolerant and continue to work for peace, unity, national integration, and peaceful coexistence.