The leader of the radical Islamist group Boko Haram has rejected the idea of any potential amnesty deal, which the country's presidency said it would study in a bid to curb a bloody insurgency, in a statement obtained by AFP Thursday.
Abubakar Shekau, the purported head of Boko Haram who has been designated a global terrorist by the United States, claimed his group had "not committed any wrong to deserve amnesty."
"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," he said, listing what he described as the state's "atrocities" against Muslims.
The Hausa language audio recording was distributed by email in a manner consistent with previous Boko Haram messages, and the voice was similar to that of previous Shekau statements.
President Goodluck Jonathan last week formed a panel to look at the possibility of offering an amnesty deal to the Islamists, whose insurgency has left more than 3,000 people dead since 2009, including killings by the security services.
Jonathan has come under intense pressure over the issue, with politicians from the country's violence-torn north as well as Nigeria's highest Muslim spiritual figure, the Sultan of Sokoto, calling for amnesty.
The panel, reportedly to be composed of national security officials, northern leaders and others, is due to report later this month.
The move has been widely debated in Nigerian media in recent days.
Boko Haram has claimed to be fighting for an Islamic state in Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer.
The group also claimed the February 19 kidnapping of a French family of seven over the border in Cameroon. Their whereabouts remain unknown.
Boko Haram's demands however have repeatedly shifted and the group is believed to include various factions in addition to imitators.
Nigeria offered an amnesty to militants in the southern oil-producing Niger Delta region in 2009, which has been credited with greatly reducing unrest there, though oil theft has since flourished.
Violence blamed on Boko Haram has been concentrated in the mostly Muslim north.
Christian and Muslim civilians, the security services and other symbols of authority have been among the group's victims.
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hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Am just laughing at the northern elders who was blaming Oga Jona for not granting amnesty.shame on you.
ReplyDeleteNiger delta militants were petted,goaded,begged,cajoled and convinced to accept amnesty. Expecting bh to just jump at the first offer of amnesty amounts to underestimating them. We don't care. Anything that can restore peace and return normalcy to the north is highly welcome.
DeleteTHIS COUNTRY CALLED NIGERIA NEED A FERVENT PRAYER FOR GOD'S URGENT INTERVENTION NOW.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! I like Shekau for this frank talk. I wonder what the caliphate and other greedy northern leaders as well as US and other yeye countries who have been clamouring for amnesty for BHaram without common sense will say after now. BHaram have repeatedly said that they dont want amnesty. They have an agenda which they are bent on achieveing and some people are here bugging Govt with amnesty for them just bcos they hope to make alot of money from the deal thesame way Niger Delta elders made hell of money from the phantom amnesty of the Niger Delta which today has backfired. If our leaders dont know the next line of action to take, they should just bow out of the stage for more credible ppl. God will help us eventually.
ReplyDeleteThe govt is not serious.The only way to deal with this menace is to arest and deal with the leaders of such locality or evironment where the event take place.Somebody may not be able to live another place to go and commit such attrocities to another without studing the environment.Also when a new person visit your environment,he or she can be easily identified.Therefore some people,some where are harboring them.Lastly,when there is a tragic event,the elders gather and rebuke it.Certainly, it will stop.But here,the leaders are shouting 'amnesty' instead of rebuking the perpatrators.A sign that they are aware of what is happening in their domain.
ReplyDeleteAnd now that bokoharam has rejected the undeserved amnesty, what next?
ReplyDeleteGovt should instead focus on compensating families of the innocent people killed by bokoharam
Both their sponsors and the perpetrators are now confused.The sponsors will gain a lot from the amnesty that is why they are serious asking for it.while the perpetrators will be given 1% of the national cake
ReplyDeletethere is one igbo adage dat says- '
ReplyDeleteas u are preparing a medicine for a mad man,how sure are u that he has decided to take it?'
as this issue (not to accept d amnesty) is rising now,then d northan elders should tell FG what to do next. Foolish people!
I seriously blame the goverment for looking at the possibility of granting this DOGS amnesty. They surely don't deserve it. Do they think they can defeat the whole country? Let the security agents fish them out whereever they may be and waste them like chickens cos that's exactly how they waste innocent souls. BASTARDS fighting for no just course!
ReplyDeleteall de anonymous dat speak bulabula de are nt 4rm de north if de come 4rm de north de wll cry 4 amnesty
ReplyDeleteI anonymous 2:26pm,am from the north but it is painful because a particular faith want to cover truth.They are hypocrates.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely you are neither from Potiskum,Damaturu nor are you from Maiduguri. Most comments about boko haram,especially by non northerners are made out of total ignorance and malice. Am a northerner living in Bonny Island and I was a witness to how all the big men and chiefs ran away from the Island during militants reign. Can anybody name names of Niger delta leaders that were condemning militancy during that time. No because everyone of them was either a sponsor, a collaborator, a sympathizer or simply afraid. Till today the government never revealed the sponsors of militancy but rather all of them are political appointees stealing and amassing wealth as if they will live forever. The president knows all of them. Its their complicity in militancy coupled with their insincerity that make them believe that boko haram is a creation of northern politicians just to spoil GEJ's reign- and they advised the president as such.
DeleteAm not a boko haram apologist-I lost to them what can never be regained- but I refer you to YouTube to see how the federal government massacred these people and drew sympathizers to their cause. Just search for extrajudicial killings in nigeria and see for yourself.
Yes bh have sponsors both within and outside Nigeria but GEJ and his advisers are deliberately accusing the people that could help solve the problem just to complicate the issue and render the north comatose and irrelevant in the scheme of things. The president should be cautious otherwise this saga has the potential of costing us our so called democracy.
l see no reason why a group of ppl will be a treat to a country like ours. Well, l blame GEJ for all these nasty blood shed by a sect called bh coz he(GEJ) knows how best to get rid of this sect. GEJ don't want to offend ppl around him. Dats all.
ReplyDeleteI just hope all these are not some games and grand design being implemented by those we think are on the opposite side.
ReplyDeletewhy grant them amnesty instead of tracking them down when we know we can
ReplyDeletei tot d northern elders knew dat amnesty was d solution? How come d pple r rejecting it? This shows dat d bh ghosts r hell bent on causing sharing their confusion to d country but its just unfortunate that it wont work.
ReplyDeleteWell now that the group has come out and taken this position, what next? I suggest that for peace to reign let us all convert to Islam ha ha ha.
ReplyDeleteAny sensible person ought to know that the group would never accept the amnesty rubbish! This is simply because what motivates them has nothing to do with temporal things but spiritual affairs! The whole trash about amnesty was political. The proponents of this crap wanted to corner president Jonathan and make him seem anti North. Now it has backfired!
Boko haram should be crushed or else we should forget this country as it is! Period. No one can force others to change their religion. The way the have faith in their own religion is exactly the same way others have faith in their own.
Animals in human skin!
ReplyDeleteDis country shud b divided! Let me see! If dy ar nt d ones to suffer it! Useful set of ilitrate(blinded by der useless religion) dats y d wrld as knwn no peace! Mak FG divid d country mak d idiots go back to dy farm gnut n tomatos! Useless pple kawai
ReplyDeleteWe are are wasting time. The North should be allowed to practice their religion so also other region! But with another name other than 'Nigeria.' We should stop deceiving our selves - we have never been children of the same mother! The sooner we peacefully answer our respective fathers' name, the better for every one. Because, Housa are not the only tribe that has fighters. Other tribes also has theirs too.
ReplyDeleteI
ReplyDeleteGEJ said the cabal behind BH are the core pdp, if he's really serious abt solving this prob, he shud get rid of this so called cabal, even it mins assasinating them(for d sake of this great nation), by so doing BH will b rid of sponsors and info.the only way to kill a snake is by cutting the head off. Do this and c mayb d bastards will not be rendered useless, incapicitated and begging for amnesty. Jona if u re rili serious abt conquering boko haram y dnt u apply US style for alqaeda.
ReplyDeleteRemember that there are a lot of christain tribes who are indigenes of the north. If we divide, what happens to them? And along what boundaries are we going to divide? Our leaders are still not serious about tackling the root causes of these problems, especially the leaders in the north, who live in luxury from federal allocations, while their people wallow in poverty and illiteracy. Even in the Niger delta, how much has really been done to tackle the root cause that led to militancy in the first place? Amnesty is only a temporary measure, it cannot hold the peace for long, and it sends the message that the government rewards lawlessness!
ReplyDeleteI am not surpsire that the BH leaders rejected the amnesty. The best but difficult solution to this problem is to divide this country. Let us take a cue from Sudan and Southern Sudan. Even if this does not happen now it will happen one day except the north become more reasonable in their practice of Islam. I wish to counsel the FG to employ stricter security measures and crush this useless distraction once and for all.
ReplyDeletehmmmmmm.....we have prayed for this great nation, and peace must reign in Jesus name!
ReplyDelete