Different people with different opinions and perception, such is the case a pro-democracy and human rights group, Community Agenda for Peace (CAP), who said Boko Haram shouldn’t be referred to as insurgent but terrorists.
It has called upon the federal government and international community to stop treating Boko Haram members as insurgents; and that rather, they should be handled like any other terrorist group around the world.

The group, who disclosed this at a press conference in Lagos on Saturday, appealed to Nigerians to unite and support the Nigerian soldiers fighting the terrorists in the North-east region in order to defeat the terrorism which it said has portrayed Nigeria in bad light globally stating that the war raging in the North-east should be described as terrorism not insurgency.

In his speech, CAP National Director, Phillips Obuesi, revealed that describing Boko Haram as insurgents rather than terrorists whom they really are, is what is responsible for the West refusal to sell weapons to the Nigerian military to combat the terrorists saying the kind of weapons the Nigerian military was seeking are not meant to fight mere insurgents but terrorists.

“Boko Haram members are not insurgents, they are terrorists just like those in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Kenya among other countries, and should therefore be treated like terrorists. So, instead of Nigerian to sit and watch AI destroy and demoralise our soldiers, all Nigerians should stand firmly behind the army to defeat this common enemy,” the group stated.

Obuesi urged Nigerian government to pursue terrorism and not insurgency campaign to properly situate what the Nigeria and its military is up against. “We cannot be up against terrorists and be dealing with them as insurgents as the rules of engagement are different,” he added.

CAP also faulted the Amnesty International (AI) for its report accusing Nigerian military of human right abuse, describing it as a tacit means to destabilise and demoralise the soldiers battling the terrorists in the country.

“But in the face of such ‘calculated’ intimidation of the Nigerian military, Nigerians should unite and support the soldiers in order to defeat the terrorists who are enemies of Nigeria and humanity,” it stated.

“It is instructive to note that Amnesty International failed to look the direction of Boko Haram members in search of human right abuse because if they have done that, they would not sincerely come up with such report.

“Furthermore, it is clear that the organisation relied solely on reports, information and records provided by prejudiced, socio-political activists who have an axe to grind with the Nigerian establishment and sympathetic to the agenda being pursued by the terrorists group .

“There are information in the public space of certain Nigerians moving from country to country with videos scripted to implicate and disparage the Nigerian state, the Nigerian leadership and the Nigerian military. The whole intention is to greatly diminish the Nigeria in the eye of the international community.

We have no hesitation in concluding that all these (including the Amnesty International report) are part of the international conspiracy intended to bring the state, the military and its leadership to disrepute,” it added.

Janeth J