Boko Haram Not About Religion Or Ethnicity - Nigeria President

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President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the Boko Haram insurgency has neither religious nor ethnic underpinning, and with adequate education, the majority of Nigerians now know the truth. 

The president was speaking at State House in Abuja, as he hosted the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karin Khan.

Buhari also warned of tougher security measures in restive parts of the country, with a review of operations and strategy. He assured Nigerians that the efforts that resulted in relative peace in the south-south and rescuing of the north-east from the hold of terrorists, will be ramped up.

The ICC's Khan said extremism was like cancer, which spreads and can also recede, noting that what Boko Haram does in collaboration with the Islamic State of West African Province, "is a perversion of religion." Khan urged Nigeria, in concert with other Sahel/Lake Chad basin countries, to get the UN Security Council to refer the atrocities committed by the terrorist groups operating in the region to the ICC for investigation and trial.

Buhari took office in 2015 after making several promises, one of which was to tackle insecurity. Since then, the security situation in the north-east has worsened due to the activities of Boko Haram and has spread to all parts of the country. There has also been an increase in kidnapping incidents across the country, daily.