‘Nigerian Muslims reject Boko Haram, suicide bombing’ By Uduma Kalu with agency report LAGOS — With the death toll from Boko Haram’s campaigns numbering in the thousands, majority of Nigerian Muslims are reported to have rejected the Islamic sect. According to a study by a Global Attitudes Project from Pew Research, support for Boko Haram in Nigeria has declined to 26 points since 2010. The report also stated that 69 per cent of Nigerian Muslims concerned by the violence associated with extremism rejected the Islamic sect. The Pew Research produced its report after conducting face-to-face interviews with 8,989 Muslims in 11 Muslim countries: Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Palestinian territories, Senegal, Tunisia and Turkey. The survey also finds that Nigerian Muslims overwhelmingly oppose Boko Haram, the extremist movement at the centre of a violent uprising in northern Nigeria. One of Boko Haram’s stated aims is to establish sharia, or Islamic law, as the official law of the land. When asked about the Islamist group Boko Haram, roughly eight-in-ten Nigerian Muslims (83 per cent ) say they have an unfavorable opinion of the extremist movement. Even more Nigerian Christians (92 per cent ) say the same. Fewer say their worries focus on the possibility that extremism will lead to reduced personal freedoms (19 per cent), hurt the country’s economy (15 per cent), or divide the nation (10 per cent) Christian Nigerians worried about Islamic extremism are also most concerned about the violent nature of extremist groups (64 per cent) Amid the plethora of terrorist attacks in Nigeria’s north, support among Nigerian Muslims for suicide bombing has plummeted since 2010 – from 34 per cent three years ago to just eight per cent today, the report continued.
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 01:09:50 +0000