Tobi Soniyi in Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned last Monday’s suicide bombing in Madinah, Saudi Arabia, Islam’s second holiest city.
A statement issued in Abuja by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said Buhari, while condoling with Saudi authorities over the reprehensible attack, said the incident was a desecration of all that was sacred and holy, as it took place near the Prophet’s Mosque, and on one of the holy days of Ramadan.
Buhari said: “The merchants of evil have once again shown that there is nothing religious in their mindless acts, by striking near the Prophet’s Mosque. It validates the claim that terrorism really has nothing to do with Islam. Purveyors of terror are simply agents of the devil.
“The fact that the Madinah bombing came the same day as a suicide bomber struck near the US Consulate in Jeddah, also in Saudi Arabia, shows that it was an orchestrated plan to foul up the Eid-el-Fitr celebration.”
He urged nations to remain vigilant, “so that we can collectively beat the forces of darkness on the prowl round the globe.”
The president said that terrorism no longer respected international boundaries even as he called humanity to rise as one body “to excise this vermin from our body polity, and assert our liberty from those who pander to base and vicious instincts.”
According to him, with collective resolve, terrorism shall be defeated.
Around the world and around the clock, let us be alert. And we would remain free and safe,” Buhari said.
