President Goodluck Jonathan
Barely 24 hours after President Goodluck Jonathan met with traditional rulers from the north on the possibility of granting amnesty to members of the Boko Haram sect, another meeting between him and the service chiefs was held Tuesday to consider the report of the Amnesty Security Committee set up two weeks ago.
The committee, which was set up by Jonathan following the agitation by northern leaders, who had met with him on the precarious security situation in the region, was mandated to consider the feasibility of granting pardon to Boko Haram adherents, among other terms of reference.
The meeting with the security chiefs, it was gathered, was also meant to look at the position paper presented on Monday night to President Jonathan by the Northern Traditional Rulers Council (NTRC) led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III.
Present at Tuesday's meeting were the Chief of Defence Staff, Vice Admiral Ola Ibrahim; Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Dele Ezeoba; Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshall Alex Badeh; Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika; and Inspector General of Police (IG), Mohammed Abubakar, among others.
After the meeting, however, none of the top security chiefs spoke to journalists as they hurriedly left the presidential villa for other engagements.
Nonetheless, in its bid to reinstate peace in the north, the federal government has challenged leaders of northern Nigeria extraction to emulate their Niger Delta compatriots, as it continues to explore the possibility of the amnesty option for members of the sect.
Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, who made the call Tuesday noted that Niger Delta leaders displayed an uncommon courage in the heydays of militant agitation in the region by visiting various camps to persuade former militants to drop their arms and embrace peace.
Maku argued that amnesty in the Niger Delta did not come easily as leaders from the region had to pluck up courage, took risks and went to dreaded camps in the creeks to persuade the former militants to accept the federal government’s amnesty package.
The minister, who made the remarks at a press briefing organised by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs in Abuja, said since the amnesty programme rolled off the ground in 2009, enormous progress and development had been recorded in the region.
Also Tuesday, the Sultan of Sokoto, Abubakar III and Cardinal John Onaiyekan described the planned amnesty to the Boko Haram sect as healthy.
The two religious leaders, who spoke at the 2013 Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony organised by Leadership Newspapers in Abuja, urged the federal government to bring stakeholders together.
Onaiyekan while speaking on behalf of the two religious leaders, said the country “still has enough time to avoid being a failed state,” if the challenges of corruption and insecurity were solved.
Speaking on the theme of the conference: “Rebuilding Nigeria”, Onayeikan, who had co-chaired the Nigeria Inter-religious Council (NIREC) with the Sultan, said: “We still have enough time to avoid being a failed state. We need to sustain our great dream. With sincere faith, that is possible.
“When people in government say they are doing their best, they should know that their best is not enough.”
Canvassing for a radical and substantial reformation in the leadership style, the clergy said: “We have what it takes to succeed. All it takes is leadership that is wise, transparent and sincere.”
On his part, Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, expressed confidence that the activities of the sect would not divide Nigeria, adding that Boko Haram’s campaign of terror and the rising wave of kidnapping in the south would come and go, while the nation would remain indivisible.
“Whatever Boko Haram and kidnappers do, Nigeria as a nation shall overcome,” Okorocha, who chaired the award ceremony, said, adding: “For us as a nation, we must see these as challenges that developing nations must pass through to get to the point of reference.”
Speaking further, he said: “Leaders must take responsibility. There are crises all over the world. For us as a nation, we must see these as challenges that developing nations must pass through to get to the point of reference.”
In his contribution, his Niger State counterpart, Babangida Aliyu, faulted the view that Boko Haram is a Muslim organisation, arguing that the sect does not represent Islam.
“If a Muslim commits suicide, he goes straight to hell. If a Muslim kills another man without justifiable reason, the sins of that person are transferred to him. There is no compulsion to the religion of Islam,” said Aliyu, who also chided Okorocha and Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, for coming late to the event after the arrival of the sultan and Onaiyekan.
Also, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Tuesday in Abuja challenged the Ja'amatu Nasril Islam (JNI) on its claim that Muslims were the main victims of Boko Haram, saying the sect had caused the deaths of 1,250 Christians and the burning of over 200 churches in the last three years.
Reeling out the data on the damage caused by the sect, the General Secretary of CAN, Rev. Musa Asake, insisted that amnesty could not precede reconciliation, compensation, restitution and other ameliorating steps for people and institutions hurt by Boko Haram's unprovoked violence.
Asake said: “Statistics released by international agencies show that more Christians were killed in Nigeria in the year 2012 alone for their faith than the rest of the world combined.”
Buttressing his point, he said: “In the last three years, besides the isolated bombings in Abuja, the Boko Haram has bombed over 200 churches and killed over 1,250 Christians worshipping in their churches, burnt and destroyed whole villages, targeted specific communities/individuals and have made good every threat they published at inception, to wit the elimination of all Christians from Northern Nigeria and the total Islamisation of the north by imposition of strict Sharia rule.
“Any process of seeking peace, sustainable security and development in Boko Haram-infested areas that do not take the issue of its victims very seriously will be an exercise in futility in the long run.”
He expressed regret that since Boko Haram did not see anything wrong with its style of jihad, and had shown no remorse, “all we can do now is to pray while making efforts to defend ourselves and communities.”
Asake said while CAN respects the support by Onaiyekan and Bishop Matthew Kukah for amnesty, they cannot speak for the association.
He therefore called on the president to, as a matter of urgency, dismiss the whole idea of amnesty for an unrepentant group because it would be a panacea for confusion in the country.
“Instead, the federal government should begin the process of compensating and alleviating the sufferings of the victims of Boko Haram. The president should ignore this so-called northern elders who are putting pressure on him and turning serious security matters into politics,” he said.
In the meantime, reactions to the proposed offer of amnesty to the Islamic terror group Boko Haram continued Tuesday when a non-governmental organisation, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), said the threat by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to attack mosques and some Islamic institutions was unjustified.
MURIC’s Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, said in a statement issued in Ibadan that the timing of MEND’s threat was wrong, uncoordinated and illogical.
Akintola said the organisation’s position was based on the fact that the federal government had been working vigorously to stem the Boko Haram menace.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted the NGO as stating, “The fact that MEND’s threat is coming just when light starts to appear at the end of the dark tunnel is quite interesting.
“The federal government has been working round the clock to find a solution to the Boko Haram menace. Why not allow the FG to conclude its plans?”
It urged Muslims and Christians to disown the threat as a mere cover up of MEND’s agenda and which was not in the interest of brokering peace.
In furtherance of the NGO’s condemnation, a faction of MEND, which claims to be affiliated to Henry Okah, joined the fray Tuesday when it disowned another faction of MEND and its spokesperson Jomo Gbomo.
Shortly after Okah’s incarceration, MEND through Gbomo Jomo, had threatened to resume hositilities in the Niger Delta and codenamed its offensive "Hurricane Exodus".
On Sunday, the same faction issued another threat codenamed "Operation Barbarossa" aimed at attacking Islamic institutions and mosques in reprisals against Boko Haram activities.
However, in a statement Tuesday signed by Timi Azizi, MEND said neither members of its high command nor loyal foot soldiers to Okah were associated with the operations referred to by Jomo Gbomo.
“Our primary objectives at present are as follows: to secure the release of our leader (Comrade Henry Okah) and other members of our fraction in various detention centres in the country; compensate families of our members killed by the security agencies; withdraw all military personnel (JTF) and tanks in the region then hand over the control (total) of our resources back to us.
“As the spokesperson to Comrade Henry Okah, I wish to assure Niger Deltans and Nigerians at large that the Operation Barbarossa is an imagination of the ‘old brigade’ trying to gain relevance, hence we strongly advise this so called Jomo Gbomo to desist from these acts and stop using the name of Henry Okah as a reason(s) for their criminal activities or else we will fish them out and hand them over to the law enforcement agencies for prosecution,” the statement warned.
Also reacting to the statement by Asari Dokubo, Monday, the MEND faction associated with Okah said it owed the ex-militant nothing and he should be grateful for all Okah had done for him.
"Before you came in contact with him, you were a nobody, we are watching, mind your utterances as we might come for you someday, for our pay cheque,” the statement said.
"For those saying that MEND no longer exists, we all know it is not true; MEND is strongly rooted in all the southern states of the federation and beyond, soon we will take decisions against those that betrayed the struggle and the region.”
THISDAY
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