Lawyer: Buratai never sought spiritual backing against Boko Haram

Emmanuel Ugochukwu, a civil rights lawyer, has dismissed reports that Tukur Buratai, chief of army staff, called for prayers to end insurgency.

He said this while responding to reports that the army chief had resorted to spiritual warfare.

Following a “spiritual warfare” seminar which held at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre in Abuja on Monday, there were reports that the army had sought the option of spirituality since it could not root out the insurgents physically.

But Ugochukwu said such reports were aimed at propagating mischief.

He said Buratai never in anyway suggested using spiritualism to fight insurgency rather called on religious leaders to support the Nigerian army in eradicating ideologies fuelling insurgency in the country.

“My attention has been dawn to a sensational headline in a national newspaper of October 1 2019 titled “Knocks as Buratai seeks prayers to defeat Boko Haram,” he said in a statement.

“According to a newspaper, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, has said terrorism and terrorist groups could not be eliminated alone by the military unless religious bodies and organisations in the country come to the ‘forefront of the spiritual battle.

“Now, if not for mischief, how does the headline justify the goal of the seminar organized by the Nigerian Army yesterday? How does the entire speech of the Army Chief amount to seeking prayers to fight a physical war as portrayed by this newspaper?

“The speech by the Army Chief, though represented by the CHIEF OF ARMY ADMINISTRATION Major Gen S.M YUSUF, never in anyway suggested using spiritualism to fight insurgency in the war front. Rather The Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, called on religious leaders to support the Nigerian Army in eradicating ideologies fuelling insurgency in the country.

“What the Army Chief stated clearly was that aside eliminating the insurgents in the battlefield their ideologies must also be killed spiritually. Ideology is not a physical realm, it is a thought process and you do not kill ideas or ideology by physical war.

“In essence the publication was an attempt to portray the Army Chief as suggesting the use of spiritualism in the actual battle field and thus try to tarnish his image.”