Bowing to large-scale public outcry, particularly from northern Leaders, President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday instituted a committee to consider the possibility of granting amnesty to members of the Boko Haram Islamist sect.
Although the names of members of the committee were not made public, they are reportedly drawn from security agencies. The committee will work directly with the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), after which its report will be presented to the National Security Council. The committee has two weeks to meet and review the clamour for amnesty to be granted members of the group.
Huhuonline.com understands that the terms of reference for the committee, as prescribed by Jonathan, include “considering the feasibility of the amnesty request and exploring other options in addressing terrorism in the country.
The parley between President Jonathan and the security chiefs was a follow-up to a Wednesday night’s meeting between Jonathan and the Northern Elders Forum (NEF).
“The entire meeting centered on the subject of Boko Haram, vis-a-viz the clamor for the granting of amnesty to the members of the sect and respect for public view,” sources who did not want their name in print said.
“The terms of reference of the committee are to collate clamours arising from different interest groups, which want the government to administer clemency for members of the religious sect, and to recommend modalities for the granting of amnesty.”
Jonathan had been under immense pressure of late from respected civil and political figures to consider granting amnesty to the terrorists.
President of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Okey Wali (SAN) had urged him to listen to calls for amnesty for Boko Haram. Making the call at the launch of the book Appellate cases on the Nigerian Armed Forces Courts Martial (A Compendium) written by Lt Grace Oyagha-Ukpong, he advised government to consider other peaceful option to resolve the crisis as well.
“What the government is doing now has not worked; people are still getting killed on both sides and very reasonable and responsible citizens have called for amnesty,” Okey said.
“Our position is that if one thing has not worked why not give the other one a trial. Give amnesty a trial; the call for amnesty for Boko Haram insurgency should be given attention by the government.
On Tuesday, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) presented resolutions made at its meeting in Kaduna, calling for amnesty for the sect. The northern apex socio-cultural group implored the American Government to find a way of joining forces with the Federal Government of Nigeria in finding lasting solution to the insurgency in the country, particularly in the northern region.
National Publicity Secretary of ACF, Mr. Anthony Sani told the acting American Ambassador to Nigeria, Jeffery Hawkins who led a delegation of American government officials to the ACF Secretariat in Kaduna, that the notion in many quarters that northern leaders were supporting the group is wrong.
He explained that the ACF believes in dialogue knowing that violence has never solved any problem anywhere in the world, adding that government should find alternative solutions since it has applied force on the group without success.
“Northern leaders are not sympathetic to Boko Haram. Our call for dialogue with the group is as a result of our belief that the use of violence and force has never solved any problem,” Sani said.
“If you use force and it has failed, why not try dialogue. But nobody is coming out because there is no motivation for them and that is why we believe that there should be a different mechanism of bringing them out for dialogue. We believe that the offer of amnesty will be a carrot that will bring them out for dialogue.”
In his remark earlier, Hawkins admitted that he was at ACF’s office to have first-hand information on some misinformation about the North. He noted that the nation’s drive for development may not be achievable under an insecure environment.
“The northern part of Nigeria is extremely important to the United States. We are very interested in its success. It is very important to us as well and so we try to get here as often as possible,” Hawkins said while speaking with journalists after a closed-door meeting with the ACF leaders.
“Actually, we are working closely with the Government of Nigeria; our foreign engagement is robust; and at the same time it is very important for us to encourage the government of Nigeria to look beyond just the law enforcement.
“It is important to encourage the Nigerian government, to make sure that these law enforcement agencies are not only enforcing the law but respecting it. Obviously we condemn terrorism, we condemn the violence and we are very interested in working with the Nigeria government.
Similarly former, military Head of State, General Abdusalami Abubakar recently described Nigeria as being in a sorry state and requiring urgent rescue, going by the spate of insecurity and wanton destruction of lives and properties across the country.
Speaking at the Nigerian High Commission in London, he lamented that the country’s security distractions are capable of dissuading prospective investors from investing in the country while criminals have seized the opportunity to attribute every attack to the activities of Boko Haram.
Abubakar, who stopped over in London on the request of the British Government after attending a UN Security Council briefing on the progress of the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) on Sudan and South Sudan, called on Nigerians, particularly the Federal Government, to do everything within their reach to arrest the situation without further delay.
“We need to make sure we bring peace and security to Nigeria,” he said. “Nigeria is a great country where we have human and natural resources in abundance. But I know a day will come when these problems will belong to the past.”
Also, former governor of Lagos State and ACN leader, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu notably disagreed several times with the president’s position on granting amnesty for the insurgent group, saying the All Progressives Congress (APC) is favourably disposed to addressing the myriads of problems bedeviling the nation.
Tinubu, speaking at the 60th birthday lecture of Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole with the theme Deepening Democracy and Enhancing Public Welfare, Tinubu faulted the president for claiming that the insurgents were ghosts.
“From history, ghosts never throw bombs; they remain quiet in the cemetery. You cannot arrest ghosts, like those people in detention,” he said. “We need solution: we have been on lamentations for so long; we have made APC for them; if they cannot do it, we will do it.”
Governor of Niger State, Alhaji Muazu Babangida, challenged the Federal Government to unmask those behind the Boko Haram from the array of arrested suspects, saying it is longer fashionable to describe them as “ghosts” considering that some of them are in the custody of security agencies.
