NORTH INSISTS ON AMNESTY FOR BOKO HARAM

Second Republic lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, has berated President Goodluck Jonathan for denying Boko Haram amnesty because the sect is faceless. He said the President was being economical with the truth.

Speaking to our correspondent on the telephone on Friday, Mohammed, the Convener, Concerned Northern Politicians, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen, accused the Federal Government of milking the country dry in the name of addressing the security challenge.

He said members of the sect took up arms, just like the Niger Delta militants, when they felt cheated by the government. He said the government was however being partial by denying the militants amnesty.

Mohammed said, “President Jonathan is being economical with the truth. In other words, he is lying. What he said about the sect (of being faceless) only showed his frame of mind. He is applying double standards.

“His people took up arms in the Niger Delta because they felt they should partake from the oil revenue being generated from their land. They did same things as Boko Haram and were later granted amnesty.

“The government has been negotiating with the sect in bad faith. Its officials, legislators and the Joint Task Force are making hundreds of millions of dollars in the insecurity. It has now become a money-making venture for them.”

Also, the apex North body, Arewa Consultative Forum, said negotiation should precede an amnesty for the sect. It explained that the call for amnesty by the Sultan was to allow the leaders of the sect show their face.

The body however expressed its concern about the security of representatives of the sect, should there be a dialogue with the Federal Government.

National Publicity Secretary of the ACF, Anthony Sani, in an online interview with our correspondent, advised the government to persuade leaders of a faction of the sect willing to dialogue with it to choose a country that had good diplomatic relationship with Nigeria to play some mediatory roles.

He said, “I cannot say which of the parties (Federal Government and Boko Haram) is sincere or insincere, precisely because the sect hankering for dialogue is only a faction of Boko Haram. Also, you cannot fault Mr. President when he insisted that the government would not negotiate with a faceless group.

“Yet it is unrealistic to expect leaders of the sect to show their faces for dialogue without any assurance for their safety.”

When asked if the sect deserved amnesty considering the injustice it would be on the part of victims, he stated, “When I was young, I once read a saying that ‘If you killed one man, you would be charged for murder; if you killed 10 people, you would be taken to hospital to test for insanity; but if you killed 1,000 people, you would be invited for peace talks in Geneva.’

“As for me, I want the amnesty to be the outcome of negotiation that can take place outside the Nigerian shore.”

The youth arm of the body, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, however said while the President could not be blamed for calling Boko Haram faceless, his earlier utterances had showed otherwise.

National President of the group, Yerima Shettimah, said, “His previous statements, like when he said Boko Haram had infiltrated his government, are a clear indication that the country is now bigger than the President and his government is no more in charge of the situation it usually claim.”

Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Abubakar III, had on Tuesday asked Jonathan to grant members of the militant group “total amnesty” for the sake of peace in the country.

The leader of the Muslim community in Nigeria also blamed the security challenges confronting the country on injustice “meted out to the people.”

But Jonathan had, during his visit to Damaturu, Yobe State, on Thursday said he would not grant amnesty to members of the sect because they were faceless.

SOURCE: NIGERIAN NEWS UPDATE.