The Presidency on Monday hit back at the proponents of amnesty for the Boko Haram sect, saying they were politicising the issue.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, made this known in a statement in Abuja.
President Goodluck Jonathan had, during a visit to Yobe State a few weeks ago, said the Federal Government could not grant amnesty to the militant Islamic sect.
He had said, “We cannot declare amnesty for Boko Haram because we cannot declare amnesty for ghosts. You cannot liken Boko Haram to what happened in the Niger Delta.”
Before the President made the statement, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar III, had urged the Federal Government to grant Boko Haram total amnesty.
Some prominent Nigerians, including a former Federal Capital Territory Minister, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and an ex-Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, faulted the President.
Ribadu spoke on Saturday on Liberty FM, Kaduna.
He said, “Jonathan was wrong to have said that he will not grant amnesty to Boko Haram; he should not fail to protect the people and when people call saying ‘we are tired; we are down’ even if it means to dialogue and have a solution to the whole process, he should opt for such.”
But Okupe, in a statement on Monday said the proponents of the call should learn from how the amnesty programme in the Niger Delta was brokered.
According to him, proponents of amnesty for Boko Haram should initiate contacts with its leaders and convince them to dialogue with government.
Okupe said Jonathan had nothing to gain from the prolongation of the wanton destruction of life and property by members of the sect.
He said leaders of thought in the affected states should prevail on the leadership of the sect to abandon “their destructive pursuit and embrace dialogue”, like the militants in the Niger Delta did before amnesty was granted.
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I hope that those calling for amnsety for terrorist understand that word very well.It means that sometime in the near future another group can wake up, hijack a state and kill everybody and ask the government for amnesty. Our so called leaders should be honest with Nigerians by not msi-advising the President.
ReplyDeleteThe North is having its pay back. NEMESIS. They think that by killing the Igbo's during the war will make them comfortable. They think that killing the Igbos now will still make them comfortable. How comfortable are they now? Soon most of all the Northern lands will be desolate. And that is a very good reward for there genocide on the Igbo's. No amnesty for them. Let them please continue the killing.
ReplyDeleteThe state govts and influential northerners know these criminals but for political reason, they have failed to exposed, to their shame. Is it north insulting to them that where the national Islamic leader- the sultan, Yakubu Gowon, Babangida, Abdulsalami, Shagari, Buhari, Atiku hail from we are are experiencing this and with all their experiences and inteligence in military and administration they cannot curb(or they deliberately refused to curb) these evil.Did they think they are gaining anything politically? They will discover that their political popularity and incluence is declining fast and will find the next context more difficult both at intra and inter party levels. I am a northerner but i will prefer Western muslim to come to no 1 seat and we experience peace than to kill people to bring a northerner to presidency and perpetuate more mayhem especially if the Yorubas are able to reject and refuse blood shed in the name of sharia in their region. Igbos and Christians have turned to sacrificial lambe in their country. If this is done to the northerners in other regions, will they have patience like the Igbos? Let them realize teir mistake and ammend their ways. The patience of Igbos is running out fast.
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