The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Sunday called for an independent inquiry to unravel the circumstances surrounding the apparently fake ceasefire deal announced by the Goodluck Jonathan administration on 17th October, now that the sect’s leadership has described the man with whom the phantom deal was negotiated as an impostor.
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) also said Nigerians do not have any confidence in the Federal Government or its ceasefire deal with the Boko Haram sect.
Just hours after the ceasefire agreement was announced, the sect members carried out two attacks on villages in the Northeastern part of the country. Since then, there has been spontaneous attacks on several other villages.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said Nigerians will like to know how the Jonathan administration got swindled by an impostor, who the major players were and what the government plans to do to address what has now become a monumental national and international embarrassment.
“President Jonathan owes Nigerians an explanation on what has now turned to be an unprecedented global faux pas. Engaging in cheap damage control by insisting on the genuineness of the deal will only amount to taking Nigerians for a ride,” Mohammed said.
APC said the saddest part of what has now turned out to be a fake deal is that it gave false hopes to the parents of the 218 school girls who remain in Boko Haram captivity that their children’s release was imminent, especially as the government even announced a specific date for the release of the girls.
“Now the parents and indeed all Nigerians have been victimised for the umpteenth time by the same government that has failed in its main reason for existence, which is the security and welfare of the citizenry,” Mohammed said, recalling its earlier warning to the Jonathan administration not to use the girls as pawns on its political chess board.
He wondered whether the government sought to buy time and gain political mileage by knowingly negotiating with a man who has no authority to do so on behalf of Boko Haram, as claimed by the sect’s leadership, in which case the government will be guilty of political fraud, or whether the government was not competent enough to know who to negotiate with, which will only reinforce the perception of this federal government as being blatantly incompetent.
“The ceasefire deal with Boko Haram was announced at the highest level of the military and supported by the political authority on 17th October. Now that it has been described as a fluke, there is every indication that the Jonathan administration was swindled by someone masquerading as a Boko Haram negotiator, while the administration itself went ahead to fool Nigerians as well as the international community. Whatever happens, the sole responsibility falls on the administration,” Mohammed said.
“Following the gleeful announcement of the deal and despite the doubts surrounding it, our party deliberately refrained from commenting on it and even wished it was real so that our long-suffering people can get some respite from the devilish terror group that has dispatched thousands into their early graves, maimed even many more and ruined the economic and social life of a large chunk of the society.
“When Boko Haram continued to carry out deadly attacks and annex territories, despite the so-called ceasefire, we waited for the government to tell Nigerians what was happening, but there was no convincing explanation. When the date announced for the release of the girls passed, we waited for the government to tell Nigerians what the problem was, but all we got from the easily excitable and trifling presidential spokesmen was platitude.
“Now that the deal is said to be a fluke and everything points to that, the Jonathan administration must be contrite enough to own up to its gaffe, if indeed it is one, or its contrived deceit, and also face the possible consequences from a stupefied citizenry.
“It cannot and must not just be another forgotten instance in a series of gaffes by a serial bumbling government.”
Also the ACF, which expressed worry over the attack on a motor park on Friday, as well as the attack on Mubi in Adamawa State, said Nigerians have lost confidence in the government and its propaganda.
“The bomb blast in Gombe, the continued killings and seizure of towns and villages in Borno and especially now Mubi in Adamawa State by insurgents barely two weeks after the announcement that a ceasefire had been brokered between the Boko Haram insurgents and the Federal Government calls to question the sincerity and effectiveness of the ceasefire agreement,” the forum said.
“It is really disturbing and worrisome that despite the assurances given by government that appropriate security measures are being put in place to contain the insurgency including the ceasefire agreement, the situation in the Northeast region is deteriorating which needed a decisive action to quell it.
“Towns like Bama, Gwoza and many others are still under the control of the insurgents despite the emergency rule in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.”
The forum held that Nigerians are becoming sceptical and they no longer have confidence in the assurances being given by government officials regarding the security challenges, since the terrorists have continued to unleash mayhem on the people without adequate counter offensive from the military.
“The news of the bomb blast that occurred on Friday morning at the Gombe motor park, was wicked, gruesome and condemnable considering the 27 innocent people killed in the blast and also the destruction of property it caused,” it said.
“The bomb blast in Gombe, the continued killings and seizure of towns and villages in Borno and especially now Mubi in Adamawa states by insurgents barely two weeks after the announcement that a ceasefire had been brokered between the Boko Haram insurgents and the Federal Government calls to question the sincerity and effectiveness of the ceasefire agreement.
“However, Government should not rest on its oars in finding a lasting solution to this menace. ACF therefore calls on the Government to decisively employ new strategy and tactics on daily basis to deal with the situation.”
It urged the government to continue pursuing dialogue and peaceful negotiation with the genuine leaders of the Boko Haram in order to restore the desired peace and order in the region, especially now that our politicians are busy with electioneering campaign against 2015 elections.
“It’s an irony that, while Nigerians in the Northeast region are being killed by insurgents and Nigerian territories being seized, our politicians are busy collecting party declaration forms to contest 2015 elections instead of collaborating efforts to contain the insurgency,” the forum said.
“ACF urges Nigerians to be more vigilant and security conscious as we embark on the 2015 electioneering campaign.”
