Boko Haram Members Are Criminals - Organisation Of Islamic Countries

… Says Sect Misrepresenting Islam
BEVERLY HILLS, CA, June 02, (THEWILL) - The Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) Monday described the Boko Haram as a criminal sect that is misrepresenting the teachings of Islam.

The Secretary General of IOC, Eiyadd Amin Madani, who led a delegation to pay a solidarity visit to President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, told state house correspondents after the visit that the Boko Haram is a terrorist group made up of outlaws.

He said the IOC's visit was to express solidarity with Nigeria and to condemn the terrorist acts by the Boko Haram and its members.

'… We are here to express our solidarity with Nigeria in facing up to this terrorist organization and to condemn the terrorist acts they have been committing and to show our condolences to Nigerian people and to the families of those who have been affected.

'The OIC has already issued statements and we are very clear that these people are outlaws. What they do are criminal acts that have nothing to do with Islam, Islamic teaching, the religion and history of Islam, the culture and civilization of Islam and we should identify them for what they are, a terrorist group.

'We also offered anything that the OIC could do and expressed our willingness to be actively involved in facing up to this terrorist group,' Amin Madani said.

The Boko Haram, a group which says it is against western education, is responsible for hundreds of violent deaths in northern Nigeria. Over 4000 persons have been killed since the group began its violent campaign against the Nigerian state.

Security analysts believe that there is a political dimension to the Boko Haram insurgency as the 2015 Presidential elections draws closer. A loose power sharing agreement between the north and south in the ruling PDP is believed to be deeply rooted in the agitation of the Boko Haram. Some top northern politicians argue that it is the turn of the north to rule the oil rich nation having only tasted power for two years in the last 15 years of democratic rule even though the north dominantly held power from 1979 -1999.

The Nigerian military has however been unable to successfully end the violent attacks because the group is believed to have sympathetic personnel in the military and government at all levels.