Jonathan condemns British terror attack

The president referred to the attack as “senseless and barbaric”,

President Goodluck Jonathan has condemned Wednesday’s killing of a British soldier, Drummer Lee Rigby, of the 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in the Woolwich area of London, United Kingdom by suspected terrorists.

In a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Rueben Abati, the President called the unprovoked attack of the soldier close to army barracks in London “senseless and barbaric,” and conveyed his sincere condolences to the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, and the British people.

In the statement, Mr. Jonathan also noted that a “terrorist attack anywhere is an attack on the way of life of all free nations and must be collectively condemned by all persons irrespective of race, ethnicity or religion.”

“It is in this spirit that the Nigerian government is partnering with the British Government, as well as all other stakeholder sovereigns to stand up to and fight terrorism and extremism in whatever guise or pretense it chooses to present itself,” the statement said.

It added that President Jonathan recognizes that each environment presents its own unique challenges and peculiarities and actions taken by affected nations may differ, yet the resolve to confront and defeat this threat should never be in doubt.

President Jonathan said Nigerians are collectively resolute about the need to protect the freedoms that “define our existence and inter-relationships at home and overseas. Our recent past tells us that when we pull together, this common enemy and threat will eventually be defeated”.

Mr. Rigby was attacked and almost completely beheaded by two young men, one of whom has been identified as British-Nigerian, Micheal Adebolajo. The young men first stroke the soldier with a car, jumped out of the car and started to stab the prone man with knives. They claimed that the attack was religiously motivated and was in revenge for Muslim people being killed “in our lands.”

However, Mr. Adebolajo and his accomplice, who is still unnamed, have been identified as British-born.

The two men, who did not try to escape after the crime, were gunned down and are now being treated in separate London hospitals.