Boko Haram rejects offer of amnesty by the Federal Government, sticking a pin into the balloon of optimism that its murderous campaign is about to end

For much of last week, the dominant news item was the proposal of the Federal Government to have members of the Boko Haram sect amnestied. The week before, President Goodluck Jonathan asked a high level team to look into the possibility of granting the insurgents armistice after a group of prominent Northerners under the auspices of Northern Elders Forum, led by Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule, had convinced him at a meeting to consider pardoning members of the fundamentalist sect as a way of halting its violent campaign, which has claimed an estimated 3,000 lives since it began in 2009.

The President had severally rejected suggestions of dialogue with and amnesty for the sect with the argument that Boko Haram is faceless, just as its demands are vague.

That the President acquiesced after a drawn out resistance to the idea sparked a surge of optimism, especially from prominent Northerners, who have spearheaded the clamour, that a solution was in the offing. This was despite strong opposition, mostly by Christians and Southerners, who consider themselves the prime targets of Boko Haram. Southerners and Christians, persuaded that Boko Haram is a criminal gang, continue to argue that a heavy hand rather than the velvet glove of pardon is what the group merits. Hardliners like the Youth Wing of the Christian Association of Nigeria, YOWICAN, threatened violence if pardon is granted the sect.

YOWICAN President, Dr. Simon Dolly, argued that the proposed amnesty is potentially dangerous because it is an invitation to more terrorism and warned that the group does not have the monopoly of violence.

“In case the Federal Government is contemplating granting amnesty to wilful murderers masquerading as political and religious insurgents, who do not respect the basic tenets of humanity and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Federal Government should be prepared to face perhaps more deadly and sophisticated response,” Dolly threatened. Even Muslims like popular preacher, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, have expressed opposition to the idea. So, unsurprisingly, has Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, President, Christian Association of Nigeria.

Dr. Reuben Abati, spokesperson to the President, dismissed the calls for amnesty as an issue between the North and the South. “The concern of government is to ensure peace and security in all parts of the country, not regional or ethnic matter,” he said. Doyin Okupe, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, also  challenged northern leaders to lead the amnesty effort by coming forward with information on Boko Haram leaders.

Less staunch opponents of the amnesty proposal are demanding that conditions for amnesty must include adequate compensation for the Boko Haram victims and their families. Even then, there were those convinced that the amnesty proposal is not the magic wand it has been dressed up to be.

As the arguments buzzed back and forth, Boko Haram announced its position on the proposal, pouring not just cold water but ice lumps on it.

The announcement came via an audio recording distributed by e-mail, one of the group’s preferred modes of communication, in which its spiritual leader, Abubakar Shekau, sneered at the proposal.

In the recording, Shekau, declared by the US as an international terrorist, spoke Hausa. According to him, the group is not interested in any pardon because it has done nothing to deserve such. “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 for atrocities against Muslims,” he said sneeringly.

While observers reckon that Shekau might not have spoken for every member of the sect, which appears to have many factions and a slew of franchisees, there is a feeling he spoke for its largest and vilest segment. Shekau has repeatedly disowned the faction of the group that has shown interest in dialogue. Shekau, in a popular Internet video, demanded that the President convert to Islam in addition to the unconditional release of his followers in detention or being prosecuted.

The latest development is a source of worry to those who viewed the amnesty proposal as cure to the malaise represented by the group. Since the proposal was announced, it has attracted commendation from figures like the former head of state, General Muhammadu Buhari, who has been accused of having sympathies for Boko Haram; former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida; and Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State among others. The United States of America also weighed on the side of pardon for Boko Haram.  “We think it is a positive development. We will work with Nigerian government as it develops its own policy approach as to counter violent extremism,” said Gregory Lawless, Political Counsellor at the US Embassy in Abuja. The opposition Action Congress of Nigeria also backed the call for pardon.

Just what Shekau’s defiance portends for supporters of the proposed armistice and the committee established by the President to work out the modalities for its implementation is uncertain.

The committee set up by the President is expected to work in harness with the Office of the National Security Adviser and was handed terms of reference as follows: i) to consider the feasibility or otherwise of granting pardon to the Boko Haram adherents (ii) collate clamours arising from different interest groups who want the apex government to administer clemency on members of the religious sect and (iii) to recommend modalities for the granting of the pardon should such step become the logical one to take under the prevailing circumstances.

The committee is expected to submit its report to the President when the National Security Council meets next week.

On a recent visit to Kano State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former governor of Lagos State, supported the call for amnesty, but recommended that the beneficiaries should only be members of the sect who “have no blood on their hands.”  How to find such members in such a bloodthirsty group is a task of huge proportions.

There had been doubts that the advocacy for pardon or even its offer would yield any meaningful outcome. Those who hold this view reckon that it raises perplexing issues about a group which has, as its clearest objective, the establishment of an Islamic theocracy in all parts of the North. This, observers believe, imbues Boko Haram with a conviction that it has a divine warrant to murder innocent people, a situation  unlikely to make it receptive to arguments that  governmental pardon is preferable to the establishment of a theocracy run on its own strain of Islam.

Musa Reef, a human rights activist from the North, had argued that the amnesty proposal would fail unless Boko Haram successfully undergoes an ideological transplant. “The group is basically ideological and cannot be assuaged with any form of amnesty. In fact, from the snippets of messages of threats issued by the group, dialogue with the government is an anathema. So, what group is the government offering amnesty to?” Reef asked in a statement.

He advised that for the amnesty to be  effective, Islamic clerics in the North should accept that Boko Haram is a religious platform and find ways of curing its poisonous brand of religiousity.

Another issue is the apparent indifference– by advocates of pardon– to the gleeful mass slaughter of innocent Nigerians. There is also the reluctance of many, especially in the South, to accept that Boko Haram deserves the same treatment as Niger Delta militants, who have been amnestied; as well as the belief that government’s recent acquiescence to the demand amounts to capitulation.

Doubts also abound that Boko Haram will be weaned from its preference for operating in anonymity by the offer of amnesty just as suspicions are rife that members of the northern political and traditional elite have been in constant touch with the group. So far, no guarantees have been given that the sect will lay down its arms and mesh into the society at the declaration of amnesty.

The advocacy for pardon was started by Alhaji Mohammed  Sa’ad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto, during a meeting of the Central Council of Jama’atu Nasril Islam in Kaduna early last March. This coincided the President’s plan to visit Yobe and Borno states, where Boko Haram is most active.

Worried by the rising wave of insecurity across the country, the traditional ruler had reminded the government that it is its duty to shield every citizen from danger. The traditional ruler then attempted to set an agenda for the President’s visit. “We want to use this opportunity to call on the government, especially Mr. President, to see how he can declare total amnesty for all combatants without thinking twice. That will make any other person who picks up arms to be termed as a criminal. If the amnesty is declared, majority of those young men running would come out and embrace that amnesty and some of them have already come out because we have read some of the stories in the newspapers,” said the Sultan. It has not quite worked out that way as Shekau’s intrasigence has proved. Attempts by some Northern leaders to present Boko Haram as the northern equivalents of Niger Delta militants protesting the environmental and economic neglect of the region was batted off by aides of the President, who contended that Niger Delta militants had clearly stated objectives and were not exactly anonymous.

And with the country’s sectarian divide providing an edge, Southerners viewed the Sultan’s campaign for armistice as an encouragement to violence-inclined religiousity. “The Sultan’s call is obviously an indication that the caliphate is encouraging and condoning bloody violence. Our position in Afenifere is that the Boko Haram members are evil. They should be identified and severely dealt with according to the laws of the land,” said Reuben Fasoranti, a leader of Afenifere, the influential Yoruba socio-political group.

Manaidi Dagogo-Jack, chieftain of Conference of Nigeria Political Parties in Rivers State, said: “The President would be setting a very bad precedent if he accepts to grant a faceless Boko Haram amnesty. We respect the Sultan’s opinion, but the government should ask him to identify who they are before talking about amnesty,” he said.

Musa Asake, General Secretary of Christian Association of Nigeria, who described the sect as a “bunch of fundamentalists who have killed, maimed, deformed Christians,” gave a condition that the group must first put an end to its activities before amnesty can be discussed.

When the President visited Borno and Yobe states, he showed no ambivalence on the matter. At a town hall meeting in Maiduguri, he dismissed attempts at comparing Boko Haram insurgency to the militancy in the Niger Delta before the declaration of amnesty for militants, citing the shadowy nature of the sect and its unclearly enunciated demands as reasons for his unwillingness to offer armistice. “What I am saying is that in the Niger Delta case, if you call them, they will come and tell you their grievances, right or wrong. They will be there to tell you ‘this is what we want, this is why we are doing this’. But in the case of the Boko Haram, you don’t see anybody who will say he is a Boko Haram member, so we cannot declare amnesty. For us to declare amnesty, we must be communicating with people. We cannot declare amnesty for people that are operating under a veil,” reasoned Jonathan.

Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State had argued that it is the task of the government to seek out leaders of Boko Haram, as was the case with leaders of Niger Delta militant groups during the administration of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. This, however, did not convince the President.

The Borno Elders Forum, a group of leaders in the strife-torn state expressed disappointment at the President’s position. Professor Nur Alkali, a prominent member of the group, said the least expected of the President by the people of the state was amnesty. “There is no alternative to dialogue. And since they talked about peace, we should work towards it, though it may take some time to achieve. The use of violence brings more violence. The minimum expectation is pardon, rehabilitation. Mr. President is expected to announce this before leaving Borno,” Alkali said.

Jonathan further disappointed the Borno Elders Forum by rejecting its call to  withdraw soldiers from the state. The soldiers have been regularly accused of indscriminate killing of innocent people.  Jonathan gave a condition for the withdrawal of soldiers by asking the group to provide a signed guarantee of peace and security and to be held accountable for any breach of such in the event of the withdrawal of soldiers.

The call for the withdrawal of soldiers was not endorsed by all Northerners.  Ahmad Gumi, the Islamic preacher, while admitting that soldiers go overboard in providing security advocated that the group be strafed for its brand of Islam and violence.  “They have their own interpretation, anything short of that is part of the enemy that should be killed. So on what basis should there be dialogue or amnesty? It is a creed that must be crushed; it is a creed the Prophet – alaihis Salam–wished he was alive to exterminate,” said Gumi, who once escaped death in the hands of Boko Haram.

Despite a few northern voices like Gumi’s expressing dissent to armistice, leaders in the region kept plodding–as they are likely to continue doing. At a recent meeting of the Northern Traditional Rulers Council, the royal fathers had pressed the government to accept to offer amnesty to Boko Haram members.  Coordinating Secretary of the Council, the Emir of Kazaure, Alhaji Najib Hussaini Adamu, reiterated the call for amnesty as the panacea to insecurity in the country.

“To this end, the federal government is called upon to reconsider its stand and offer amnesty to the insurgents, who embrace the path of peace, reformation and reintegration with the larger society. This is the norm the world over and there exists a precedent in Nigeria,” the traditional rulers said in a statement.

It is believed that pressure from influential individuals and groups like the traditional rulers was what melted the President’s opposition to the request. The President, understandably, is keen to be in the good books of every section of the country as a condition for their votes in 2015.

However, the President’s acquiescence is not the only required condition for amnesty. Equally important is the willingness of Boko Haram which, on the evidence of Shekau’s latest round of sanctimonious outburst, remains unsecured. And as yet, Boko Haram’s copycat, the Ansaru sect, has given no hint of its desire to be part of the amnesty party. Have the wheels come off the amnesty wagon even before it starts moving? For now, it seems so. Late last Thursday, the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, called on the government to put a halt to the process. Just where it goes from here will be a subject of great public interest in the coming months.

–Bamideele Johnson, additional report by Eromosele Ebhomele

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Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.

Source: PM News

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