While the argument about whether or not the Federal Government should give amnesty to members of the dreaded Boko Haram group before ceasefire, the sect has rejected the pardon and peace initiative being planned by the government.
In an audio message released to the media on Thursday, the leader of the Islamist sect, Mallam Abubakar Shekau stated that his group has not done any wrong that warrants being pardoned. According to him, it should be the sect that should grant pardon to the Federal Government “for the many atrocities it has been committing against Muslims.”
It will be recalled that the Federal Government had barely a week ago constituted a panel to look into the possibility of granting amnesty to Boko Haram members who for about two years have unleashed terror on Nigerians, especially those in the northern part of the country.
Shekau who spoke in Hausa language, affirmed that the group is out to avenge the killing of Muslims and the “destruction of Islam”.
“The Government is talking about granting amnesty to us. What have we done? On the contrary, it is we that should grant you a pardon”, Shekau said in the audio message.
The Federal Government considered the amnesty alternative following a recent call by some northern leaders for amnesty for members of the recalcitrant group.
Northern leaders on the platform of Northern Elders’ Forum recently appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to consider amnesty for insurgent groups in the Northern region, in his programmes as a way of overcoming the security challenges in the country.
The call for amnesty has for some time continued to be like a song on the lips of some northern leaders, making them to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja. The main insurgent group in the North, Boko Haram, has claimed responsibility for masterminding several attacks across the northern states causing the death of hundreds of people.
The forum made its position known at a closed-door, late night meeting held with the President at the State House. The 25-member Northern Elders’ Forum was led by the former Nigeria representative to the UN, Alhaji Yusuf Maitama-Sule.
Addressing State House correspondents after the meeting, the spokesperson for the Forum and former Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, said that the meeting centred mainly on national security.
“The contention here is that the country is facing challenges and I’m sure you will agree that there are challenges in the country, particularly in the area of security.
“That is the greatest challenge the country is facing today and we spent a lot of issues on security matters. “On amnesty, what we discussed is that the general opinion in the country is that amnesty should be factored in to whatever the government is trying to do to overcome the violence that is taking place all over the country and, particularly, in most parts of the North.
“Fortunately, the President is already thinking hard on it and he assured us that there is a special meeting on the matter tomorrow and I’m sure that something substantial will come out of that meeting,” he said.
Abdullahi said that they were at the Presidential Villa as a follow-up to an earlier visit last year where a memorandum was submitted to the President on matters of the nation by the Forum.
He said that the President, after studying the memorandum, invited members of the group for further deliberations on issues raised in the submission. Also, the Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, confirmed that the group called for amnesty for insurgent groups.
He said the President also briefed the forum on what government had been doing to stabilise the situation in the North and to promote infrastructure development and agriculture.
The minister said the forum was informed of efforts of government toward promoting education in the North, particularly through the construction of more than 100 Almajiri schools to increase access to education by more than 9.5 million children on the streets.
He said the President also spoke about the nine out of 12 Federal Government- owned universities established in the North. Other members of the forum at the meeting were, Dr Hakeem Baba Ahmed, Mrs Pauline Tallen, Alhaji kali Gazali, Dr Safiya Mohammed, Mr Solomon Dalong and Sheikh Ahmed Lemu.
Also in the meeting were Alhaji Shehu Malami, Sen John Wash Pam, Alhaji Bello Kirfi, retired Maj.-Gen. Paul Tarfa, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, Dr Paul Unongo and retired AVM Allamin Daggash.
Alhaji Sanni Daura, Alhaji Yahaya Kwande, Alhaji Sale Hassan, Alhaji Bashir Yusuf, Justice Mustapha Akanbi, Prof Idris Mohammed, retired Capt. Paul Tahal and retired Capt Bashir Sodangi were also part of the delegation.
It will also be recalled that the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Sa’ad III, had also recently called for amnesty for members of Boko Haram.
To this effect, the Federal Government on April 4 inaugurated a committee to look into the possibility and modality on granting amnesty to the fundamentalist Boko Haram sect.
However, an indication that the sect might truly not be interested in the proposed amnesty deal emerged when some Borno State Government officials were gunned down.
That was followed by an attack that was carried out on a police station in Yobe State on Thursday. Four policemen were killed in the fire fight at the police station and their rifles were taken away.
The stance of the group notwithstanding, a number of individuals and groups have commended the federal government for the initiative.
For instance, the United States of America on has backed government’s gesture. The Political Counsellor at the Embassy of the USA, Gregory Lawless, said in Abuja that the American government would support amnesty for Boko Haram if it was the solution to ending violence in the North and other parts of the country.
“We think it is a positive development. We will work with Nigerian government as it develops its own policy approach as to counter violent extremism,” Lawless said in a response to a question about the US position on the amnesty the Nigerian government was planning to grant the Islamic sect at a teleconference on US-Nigerian Bi-national Commission.
He added, “Security concerns in Nigeria would be addressed through our regional security cooperation working group as part of the Bi-National Commission.
In the same vein, former Head of State and presidential candidate for the Congress for Progressive Change in 2011, Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) last week threw his weight behind the Federal Government’s plan to grant amnesty to members of the Islamic sect, the Boko Haram.
Buhari contended that granting amnesty to the fundamentalist sect members would not be out of place because it would not be the first time a militant group would be given such a privilege by the Federal Government.
He recalled the decision by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua to grant amnesty to Niger Delta militants to douse the tension in the oil-rich region.
The CPC presidential flagbearer in company with his running mate, Pastor Tunde Bakare; the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Masari, and the party’s National Chairman, Prince Tony Momoh spoke in Abeokuta, shortly after a courtesy visit to Governor Ibikunle Amosun in his Oke-Mosan office.
Equally, President- General Ohanaeze Ndi-Igbo Worldwide, a pan Igbo social group, Chief Gary Nnachi, has joined the long list of other Nigerians calling on the Federal Government to grant amnesty to members of the Boko Haram sect, so long as it will restore peace back to the nation.
Nnachi who was recently in Kano in company of top notch of Pan Igbo social group to build confidence among the Igbos residing in the volatile region following the recent bomb attack on a luxury bus Park, noted that “peace is the only thing that will guaranteed development and wellbeing of the Nigerian citizenry and federal government should be in the vanguard of ensuring that peace is maintained, therefore the government should do whatever it takes, including giving amnesty to the Boko Haram members if they will lay down their Arms and leave peacefully with everybody’.
The Ohaneze boss stressed that “Nigeria is a country for everybody, be it Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa or any other Tribe we don’t have any other place than this our beloved nation and its time we stopped deceiving ourselves and live peacefully with one another, and the freedom of movement, right to live and ownership should also be guaranteed”
Meanwhile, former presidential candidate and founder of the National Action Council (NAC), Olapade Agoro, has faulted the planned amnesty for Islamic sect, Boko Haram saying the Federal Government, by so doing, will be empowering the sect to continue their onslaught against the nation.
He also berated the Northern elders who are at the forefront of calls for amnesty for the sect saying they are interested in the largesse that will come with the amnesty so as to be well equipped for the 2015 general election. He stated that: “First and foremost, Mr. President is already mortgaging his position. He is telling the world that he lacks the will expected to deal with terrorism and insurgency.
“How can a man that said Boko Haram members have infiltrated his government now turn around and say they are faceless? “It will be stupid of any leader to talk of granting Boko Haram amnesty.
By the time you gave them money in the name of amnesty, you are empowering them to continue the onslaught. You are giving them enough fuel and arming them to fight the nation. “The Northern elders know Mr. President is hotly pursuing 2015ambition.
What they are waiting for is enough money to arm their insurgents groups and to have enough resources to campaign against the president. That is all. So, by listening to the Northern leader’s call for amnesty, Jonathan wants to arm the sect against himself”. “Before we talk of amnesty for Boko Haram, they must first come into the open, hand over all their weapons and surrender them to the Federal Government.
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