Boko Haram has lost relevance, says Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari says people stopped “relating with the relevance” of Boko Haram after the sect got exposed as a “ruthless, destructive and misguided terrorist group”.

Speaking on Tuesday during a meeting with new ambassadors who were at the presidential villa in Abuja to present their letters of credence, Buhari said the group’s initial attraction for recruitment was religion.

He appealed to religious leaders to support the federal government’s effort “to strip the sect of all its religious pretensions”.

“Now, people cannot relate with their relevance anymore and they are only associated with the destruction of lives and properties,” Femi Adesina, his spokesman quoted him as saying.

“What we have succeeded in doing is to separate terrorism from religion.

“If your life does not mean anything to you, other peoples’ lives will not mean anything to you as well. People are beginning to see that Boko Haram is just about destruction and nothing else.”

He said his administration would continue to prioritise diversification and other measures to help the Nigerian economy withstand the shock of falling crude oil prices.

Buhari received the letters of credence from Solomon Jere; (Zambia), Leopoldo Rovayo Verdesoto (Ecuador), and Claudia Turbay Quintereo (Colombia).

He wished them successful tenures in Nigeria.