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Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Boko Haram forces leaders to sing ‘scary’ tunes


Boko Haram forces leaders to sing ‘scary’ tunes
Is the Boko Haram ready for dialogue? The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the North and at the national level doubts the group’s sincerity to hold talks with government, but many a Northern voice, including the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), insists dialogue is the only way out, reports LEKE SALAUDEEN

It has no face, save its leader whose face comes to live once in a while through You Tube. Its members are visible through their destruction of men, women, children and valuables and their willingness to die in order to kill. These weird characteristics are the reasons Christians in the North and elsewhere in the country do not believe the Boko Haram is ready for talks with the Federal Government. Their fears are shared by some influential leaders in the North, who believe the veil must come off the group’s face if it must be taken serious. President Goodluck Jonathan believes so too.
A former chairman of CAN in Lagos State, ArchBishop Magnus Atilade said the Boko Haram members must be identified before talks are held with them.
He told The Nation: “Given the circumstance in which we are today in this country, I think no sacrifice would be too much for government to make in the name of peace. This is not to absolve the Islamic sect of criminal activities. The major issue is how to restore peace. We can’t continue like this for long. It is affecting our economy, it’s affecting governance, it’s causing distraction and it’s affecting the nation’s image.”
Spokesman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the North, Mr. Sunday Oibe, said it is sad Boko Haram wants to dictate conditions for peace talks to a legitimate government.
Oibe told The Nation: “While calls were being made for dialogue, the Boko Haram members continue with killings and boast to do more; then who are you negotiating with? After declaring ceasefire, they went and killed a retired Major General in his residence in Maiduguri. How do you take such people serious? All those calling for dialogue are after what they will benefit from the process. It will create the opportunity of extorting money from government in the name of dialogue.
“How do you dialogue with criminals? They have declared war against the state. They are not human beings. They should be treated like criminals from the pit of hell. They are not above the law. Security agents should renew their efforts in unveiling the identity of Boko Haram leaders, their followers and their sponsors. They should face the full wrath of the law for wanton killing of innocent people.”
He dismissed those comparing the dialogue between Niger Delta militants with negotiations with Boko Haram, adding that in the prelude to the amnesty for the Niger Delta militants, it was the Federal Government said the militants must lay down their arms to benefit from the amnesty.
“For Christians in the North, the Boko Haram onslaught is a religious war against the followers of Christ. Many have stopped going to church on Sundays for fear of bomb attacks. Why is it that the churches and Christians in the North are being attacked? This should not continue so that the country does not disintegrate. The killings and attacks on churches have provoked the Christians for too long. There is a limit to resilience. Christians would not continue to keep quiet and watch their fellow brothers and sisters killed by suicide bombers. If they want to split the country along religious line, they should come out and say it clearly. Just as Muslims have the right to worship according to the tenets of their religion, so are the Christians and traditionalists. This country has no official religion. Nobody can foist his/her faith on others. We have endured enough.”

It’s not a North’s problem

Former Military Governor of Kaduna State has absolved the northern leaders of any blame on the menace of the Boko Haram. He said it’s mischievous for any individual or group to hold the northern elders, politicians and traditional rulers responsible for killing spree of the sect.
Umar told The Nation that northern leaders do not have security apparatus to confront the insurgents, it is uncharitable for any group to jump into conclusion that the northern elite are sitting on the fence.
He said: “The state governors lack powers over the police who take directive from the Inspector General of Police in Abuja. There is no state police. The governors are chief security officers without power on the Commissioners of Police. If there is state police, it would have been a different ball game. If the Federal Government cannot use the instrument at its disposal to dislodge the criminals, do you expect individuals to come out and confront them?
“Different bodies and organisations have denounced the activities of the Boko Haram publicly. Some have even made presentations to the Federal Government suggesting how to end the crisis. They did this at the risk of their life. They have condemned the notoriety of the group severally. They have forwarded their recommendations; it is left to government to accept or reject. What else do you want from the northern leaders?
“The truth is that the Federal Government is in a serious dilemma in combating the menace of Boko Haram . However, all hands must be on deck. All of us should be security conscious by reporting strange elements or suspicious movement around us to law enforcement agencies.”
Umar said rather than shifting blames, patriotic Nigerians should advise the Federal Government to find out what is responsible for the emergence of the anti-social elements like Boko Haram and Niger Delta militants.
He said: “They are products of economic mismanagement by past and present leaders. Corruption has eaten deep into the system. The army of unemployed youths feels they have no stake in the nation. To them the future is bleak.
“The way the economy is being handled is not in the interest of the majority. Two per cent of the Nigerian populace controls 90 per cent of the economy. About 70 per cent of the annual budget is spent on salaries for political office holders and civil servants. Our legislators are the highest paid in the world. That’s why when members of the National Assembly sneeze they celebrate it on pages of newspapers by placing adverts. Unless our leaders change their life style, restructure the economy in such a way that it will enhance the standard of living of common people, the emergence of militant groups would not abate.”
On dialogue sought by Boko Haram with Federal Government, Umar said no. According to him, how do you expect government to talk with unidentified group?
“I think the Federal Government was right in rejecting the peace overtures by the group. How do you hold peace talk with people whose identity you cannot ascertain, people that you can’t locate their residence? It looks awkward. Remember that Gen. Muhammadu Buhari turned down his nomination by the Boko Haram group to mediate on their behalf. The reason given by Gen. Buhari was that he didn’t know them; so why should he be negotiating on behalf of people he didn’t know? Again how credible is the information that Boko Haram is seeking peace talk. Has anybody verified the authenticity of this message? Since they are operating underground, it will be very difficult for government itself to cross check. They have to unmask themselves before holding peace talk with government”, Umar concluded.
Former Vice Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Prof. Ango Abdullahi said the mistake some highly placed officials make is that they have assumed that the issue of Boko Haram is a problem of the North.
This assumption, according to him, is absolutely wrong and short-sighted.
Abdullahi, a prominent member of the Northern Elder Forum, said; “Boko Haram, to me, was something that would have been nipped in the bud early, but was allowed to assume a dimension it is today. Their matter was badly handled in 2008/2009. From then on, instead of quickly nipping whatever problem it was in the bud, the matter took a totally different colouration. I think it was badly handled by law enforcement agencies. If it was a religious sect, it should have been kept that way and dealt with accordingly. Unfortunately, politicians started employing them against their perceived opponents.
“The question now is, who is going to stop Boko Haram hostilities? Everybody has a role to play. Some are more responsible than the others. Government has a larger role to play. The primary responsibility of who to find solution to this problem is the government. From community leaders to traditional rulers, everyone has a role to play. We should start asking questions as to why this is happening.
“Dealing with the matter by force is not the solution. In a presentation by the Northern Elders to President Goodluck Jonathan recently, we cautioned against the use of force. Government at all levels should enlist every stakeholder they consider important to come out and find a way of reaching out to these boys in the bush. They always give the excuse that they don’t know them, but they are not fictitious. We believe that with the current approach through the communities, they will be able to reach out to them.
“Despite the difficulty in identifying who is Boko Haram in the society, there have been other efforts through the people who the leadership of Boko Haram felt they can trust in bringing about dialogue with government. I think the first one that I know is the efforts of Dr Datti Ahmed. I think they gave him a mandate to engage in discussion with government under certain conditions and these conditions were breached and that was why Dr. Datti withdrew from participating. Despite the fact that the government said it still wanted to pursue the dialogue and what we saw later was press statement on the papers and electronic media of Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi being an intermediary between government and Boko Haram. But before we know it, the Boko Haram disclaimed the Sheikh that at no time had they instructed Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi to speak with government on their behalf.
“There are many allegations that a lot of bomb attacks were not carried out by the Boko Haram agents, that they are carried out by different people. In the course of various arrests that have been made after those attacks, a number of non-Muslims and even non-northerners were caught either by the people or security agents. May be the accusation is why government is not making pronouncements about the people they caught who are not Muslims or agents of Boko Haram but make so much noise on Boko Haram because it is an Islamic organisation. This is what perhaps they are trying to say.”

They are as faceless to ACF

The spokesman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Anthony Sani, said Boko Haram members are faceless to the pan-North group.
He is pleading with the Federal Government not to close its doors against peace overtures by the Boko Haram group, adding that Jonathan has some points by insisting he must be able to identify Boko Haram leaders before discussing with them.
He told The Nation: “Mr. President did not rule out dialogue. He said the government cannot engage constructively with a faceless group. To some extent, the president is right and in another angle some people would say he is not sincere, especially when regard is paid to this fact that no one expects leaders of the sect to come into the open without anything in place to protect them from arrest by the authority. Naturally, they would fear being arrested or being killed. So there has to be some mechanism that would assure them of their security before they can show their faces. The situation is more complicated now that they have price tags.
“As a way out, we want to appeal to leaders of the Boko Haram to approach Saudi Arabia or any other country of their choice to play some roles in the dialogue. If Saudi Arabia or any other country of their choice that has good diplomatic relationship with Nigeria agrees to broker the dialogue, it would naturally fall upon such a country to approach the Nigerian government for effect. In that case, there would be no fear of any arrest by Nigerian authority. Somehow, I do not believe the price tag means foreclosure of dialogue. It might be the government’s way of nudging the sect into accepting dialogue. A stick-and-carrot approach, one might say.”
He said the sect’s members are unknown to ACF. “If we know them and have access to them, they would have stopped their violence by now. They are as faceless to government as they are to ACF.”

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