But in a reaction to the Islamic sect’s rejection of amnesty for its members, former Nigerian Ambassador to Switzerland, Yahaya Kwande, who was also part of the Northern Elders' Forum (NEF) that met and pleaded with President Goodluck Jonathan last week to grant Boko Haram amnesty, advised the federal government not to go back on its bid to explore the amnesty option despite its rejection by the sect's members.
On its part, the military high command said Thursday that its scepticism over the attempt to grant clemency to the terrorists remained unchanged and was not fooled by Boko Haram.
The purported leader of the group, Sheik Abubakar Shekau, Thursday spurned the deal, saying his members had done nothing wrong to deserve pardon.
Instead, he said in an audio recording distributed by email to media organisations that his group should be the one to grant pardon to the federal government for the atrocities committed against Muslims.
Jonathan, after a series of meetings with major stakeholders, comprising security chiefs and northern elders, had last week set up a seven-man committee to study the desirability or otherwise of granting amnesty to the insurgents.
Of the seven members of the committee so far known, which the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar III, is heading, four are within the security apparatchik. They are the representatives of the Directors-General of the State Security Service (SSS) and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), while other members include a representative of the NEF and a former security chief in the regime of former Head of State, Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar.
The terms of reference of the committee are: to consider the feasibility or otherwise of granting amnesty to the Boko Haram adherents; to collate the clamour arising from different interest groups who want the federal government to administer clemency on members of the religious sect; and to recommend the modalities for granting the amnesty, if necessary.
The committee has till next week to submit its report.
But shortly after the establishment of the committee, a faction of the sect had rejected the decision by the federal government to fashion out modalities for amnesty for members of the group.
It is uncertain if the breakaway cell of Boko Haram has been in contact with the faction headed by Shekau.
Despite the setting up of the committee, the Islamic sect has not stopped its campaign of terror as 11 people were killed Thursday in an attack on a police station in Yobe State, carried out by gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members.
According to a report by AFP, Shekau, who has been designated a global terrorist by the United States, claimed his group had “not committed any wrong to deserve amnesty.”
“Surprisingly, the Nigerian government is talking about granting us amnesty. What wrong have we done? On the contrary, it is we that should grant you pardon,” he said, listing what he described as the state's “atrocities” against Muslims.
His audio recording, in which he spoke in Hausa language, was distributed by email in a manner consistent with previous Boko Haram messages, and the AFP said his voice was similar to that of previous Shekau statements.
Jonathan had come under pressure, especially from northern religious and political leaders, to grant amnesty to Boko Haram members as a way of ending their four-year reign of terror.
Besides attacks on security officials and their buildings, the terrorists graduated to bombing churches and of late, landmarks, such as in Kano where it bombed a bus station, widely patronised by southerners, killing some 60 people.
The group also claimed responsibility for the February 19 kidnapping of a French family of seven across the border in Cameroun. Their whereabouts remain unknown.
Boko Haram’s demands however have repeatedly shifted and the group is believed to include various factions in addition to imitators.
The sect is also suspected to be behind the attack on a police station in Yobe State Thursday.
The gunmen stormed the police station in a remote village of Babbangida, the secretariat of Tarmuwa Local Government Area, which is some 80 kilometres from Damaturu, the state capital.
The attack sparked a shootout that left four officers and five insurgents dead.
“They came to attack our station there early this (yesterday) morning at about 1.00 am and our men engaged them in a shootout,” the state Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Sanusi Rufai, said.
“We killed five of them but they fled with the corpses. Unfortunately, we also lost four of our policemen,” he added, labelling Boko Haram gunmen as the suspected culprits.
Reacting to the terrorist group’s latest rejection of the amnesty deal, Ambassador Kwande, however, said the federal government should remain steadfast and not change its mind on exploring the amnesty option.
Speaking to THISDAY Thursday night, Kwande said it was not expected that the sect members would readily accept the offer but government should go ahead and proclaim it and also bring them to the negotiation table.
"What do we expect them to say? Do you just expect them to come out like that? It is left for the government to use its wisdom to look for them and bring them to the negotiation table," Kwande said.
On Shekau's claim that it was government and not Boko Haram that needed amnesty, Kwande said: "Is it not after you have brought them to the table that you can make them see reason why they need amnesty?"
When reminded that government had said it did not know members of the sect and by implication, may not be able to bring them to the negotiation table on its own, the former envoy said: "If they don't know Boko Haram, they know Ahlisunnah Lidda'awati Wal-Jihad. Why can't they go and look for that Islamic sect?"
Speaking further, Kwande said: "Amnesty is still the best thing. It is still the best alternative. What other alternative does government have? They should go ahead and proclaim amnesty."
Buttressing his argument, he said after the late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua proclaimed amnesty for the Niger Delta militants, government then made efforts to bring them out of the creeks for dialogue.
However, the military yesterday said it was not fooled by the sect and remained sceptical about dealing with its members.
This was the central theme of their reaction to the statement by Shekau, as a source in the military, who preferred to remain anonymous, said they were not surprised at the inconsistency and unpredictable nature of the sect, adding that “the military is not fooled.”
They confirmed that the security forces remain at high alert, especially in troubled spots since they do not trust the sect’s readiness to embrace peace.
A source said: “You see, the military has never been fooled by these people and we have been maintaining our guard. We are ready for any eventuality… especially as dictated by the federal government.
“So amnesty or no amnesty, we are still maintaining our guard. The only thing that can alter the action of the military is a directive from the president.”
Feelers inside the military hierarchy further revealed that there are divided opinions on the best way to reinstate peace, especially in northern Nigeria, with some rooting for amnesty while others have advocated caution because of the wider implication of forgiving the terrorists.
“You know from the word go, everybody was just waiting for whatever the president would say. In fact, it does not also detract us from the fact that each individual has a personal opinion, because both operationally and collectively, there has never been a position taken that is different from that of the federal government," the source noted.
THISDAY had reported last week that even though the security chiefs were sympathetic to Jonathan, in view of the political pressure he was under, they were however sceptical at the workability of the amnesty programme proposed by northern leaders.
They had argued, for instance, that since none of the northern leaders had direct access to Shekau, they were uncertain that granting amnesty to the group would make its members embrace peace.
The service chiefs, it was gathered, were also wary of setting a dangerous precedent and felt that the federal government should not negotiate from the position of weakness.
“An amnesty is already on the table but with conditions, and the president has the final say in this situation.
“The military stance is that when Boko Haram members lay down their arms, come into the open, renounce violence and observe a ceasefire for a period of time, the federal government can then negotiate amnesty,” a defence source said.
Meanwhile, a chieftain of the ruling Peoples Democratic party (PDP), Chief Henry Ikoh, has urged the federal government to ensure it extracts guarantees from northern leaders before implementing any amnesty programme for Boko Haram.
Ikoh, while addressing journalists in Oboro Ikwuano, Abia State, Thursday said that the amnesty would not achieve the desired goal if the terrorists failed to end hostilities.
He explained that the guarantors of the amnesty should be prominent emirs, religious leaders, political leaders, from state and local governments in the affected parts of the north that have been bearing the brunt of the terrorist attacks.
However, Ikoh expressed worry that so far, the leaders of Boko Haram have remained largely faceless while their demands are untenable, thereby making it difficult to know how the amnesty would be extended.
He also expressed doubts on the sincerity of the northern leaders that are demanding amnesty for the terrorists, noting that it could just be another dubious means of frittering away public funds.
According to him, the amnesty guarantors should be held responsible for any funds that may be allocated for the implementation of the amnesty programme.
“If there is no guarantee of security, there should be no amnesty,” he added.
Ikoh also called on the federal government to consider the victims of Boko Haram attacks in the amnesty deal by paying adequate compensations to them.
Also, former Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark, Thursday advised the federal government to establish special courts for speedy prosecution of terrorists and their sponsors to serve as a deterrent to others.
Clark, who spoke under the auspices of Congress for Equality and Change, a socio-political group he leads, further warned the government to ensure that the amnesty programme being considered for members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect “does not constitute an incentive for unpatriotic elements or groups to cash in on the programme to perpetuate criminality and seek refuge under amnesty.”
According to the group, the activities of the Boko Haram sect and the general security situation in the country are detrimental to national development.
The position of the group was contained in a communique signed by Clark and its National Chairman/former Senate President, Senator Ebute Ameh, after an emergency meeting held in Clark's Asokoro residence.
The group said: “Amnesty (for Boko Haram) should not be left in the realm of speculation and or ambiguity but rather, deliberate steps should be taken to ensure that it does not constitute an incentive for unpatriotic elements or groups to cash in to perpetuate criminality and seek refuge in amnesty.
“There should be a wider stakeholders’ consultation in arriving at the modalities expected to articulate the necessary preconditions to grant amnesty.
“Special courts should be established for the speedy prosecution of terrorists to serve as a deterrent to others.”
Culled from Thisday
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