The Federal Government has denied ever promising to grant amnesty to members of the Jama’atul Ahlul Sunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, popularly known as Boko Haram, should it renounce violence.
The Federal Government made the clarification while debunking a story published by a national daily, which credited the government with promise of amnesty to members of the group. It also denied promising to give in to the demands of the group as a pre-condition for dialogue.
Describing the story as inaccurate, a Presidency source claimed that what transpired at an interactive session held on Monday at the National Defence College, Abuja, which was misconstrued by the newspaper’s reporter, was that National Coordinator of Counter-Terrorism Centre, Gen. Sarkin-Yaki Bello (rtd) told US military personnel that government will only listen to Boko Haram if it comes up with a credible renunciation of violence by its leadership.
“If a credible leadership shows itself, government is ready to negotiate with them,” he said. “If (leader of the Boko Haram sect, Ibrahim) Shekau can come out, using his usual medium to renounce violence, the government will be ready for the dialogue.”
According to the source, Gen. Bello only responded to a question from a US military personnel who wanted to have his take on the Boko Haram crisis.
“In response, Gen. Bello enumerated the grievances of the group, as a preamble to answering the question, and then went on to stress that all the requests were untenable and the apex government will not key into any of them.
“The demands of the Islamic group were: the release of its detained members, rebuilding of Markaz Ibn Taimiyyah demolished in 2009 at the height of their insurgency in Maiduguri, and the granting of unhindered freedom to them to practice their ideology openly.”
He added that the counter-terrorism coordinator never said that the apex government had any intention of meeting the demands of the group.
“The government and even the general in his personal capacity had never contemplated capitulating to such requests, either as opening gambit for rapprochement or pre-condition for any form of engagement,” he said.
“Instead of giving in to these unrealistic demands by the sect, the general had advised at the session that their leader, Imam Abubakar Shekau, should come out publicly, or via his favourite social medium, the YouTube, to announce the cessation of violence, and from there, the government will be convinced that the group really wants dialogue.”
