The Presidential Committee on Dialogue
and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North and the
Joint Task Force may clash over the ceasefire declared by the militant
Islamic group, Boko Haram.
Saturday PUNCH learnt that in spite of the ceasefire, the Joint Task Force would continue its crackdown on terrorists in the North-East.
The military authorities were said to
have expressed ill-feelings that they were not informed before the
ceasefire agreement was reached.
A top security source, who confided in Saturday PUNCH, said, “We have not been informed about the ceasefire. The JTF will continue to arrest suspected terrorists.
“We will continue our crackdown on the
terrorists until we are sufficiently convinced that they have laid down
their arms and denounced terrorism.
“As far as we are concerned, we are not aware of that ceasefire they are talking about, and we are not reckoning with it.”
But a source in the committee called the
bluff of the military authorities over the claim that they were not
aware of the ceasefire agreement.
The source told Saturday PUNCH
that as long as the committee was inaugurated by the Federal Government,
the issue of taking another person into consideration did not arise.
A member of the committee informed one of our correspondents that the claim by the military authorities was not the best.
The source said, “I don’t want a
situation in which it will appear as if there is crisis from the
government side. Mr. President has been carried along; so, if anybody is
claiming that they are not aware, it is not our problem.
“We are not working under the Minister
of Defence or Chief of Defence Staff. We are a presidential committee
and we talk with the President and we have done our duty.”
The Chairman of the committee, Alhaji
Taminu Turaki (SAN), had on Monday said that the committee had reached
an understanding with Boko Haram.
He said the group had reached a ceasefire understanding, which he noted, would be followed by a formal signing of an agreement.
He had said, “It is not an agreement; we
have reached an understanding with the leadership of Boko Haram arising
from weeks of discussion and interface that we have been having with
them.
“We will now move to the issue of
parameters for an agreement and then when we are able to agree on the
terms, the signing will be done openly and all members of the press will
be invited.
“But for now, they have agreed in
principle that they have declared a ceasefire, which we commended as it
will facilitate the solving of the problem.”
But the Defence Headquarters’ spokesman, Chris Olukolade, had in an interview with a national newspaper (not The PUNCH) on Tuesday, said the military had not been informed about the ceasefire.
Efforts to get Olukolade on the latest
development did not succeed. He couldn’t be reached for his reaction,
as calls placed to his mobile telephone line indicated that it was in an
area outside of network coverage.
Meanwhile, Turaki has said that the
extension of amnesty to the recently imprisoned members of the Boko
Haram sect would be determined after concretising the understanding and
agreement on ceasefire.
He stated this in an interview with Saturday PUNCH on Thursday.
Four members of the group were jailed by a court in Abuja on Tuesday.
Turaki said contrary to insinuations, there was nothing like amnesty programme between the government and Boko Haram.
PUNCH
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'A house divided against itself...'
ReplyDeleteGEJ u c ursef?I wonder if indeed u went to sch.
We Nigerians are standing solidly by the JTF, they will continue to arrest those sick men (Boko Haram) not until they know how serious they are.
ReplyDeleteOnly Psychosis will open fire on Children, I don't care what anybody thinks my wish for those Animals (Boko Haram) is death. South-South Militants would never in their life Open fire on helpless Children. They and their sponsors will all reap what they have sown
Faceless fools,the crises in egypt would be attributed to islamisation,seperate the state from religion.you can only govern with the fear of God and serving the people rightly.
ReplyDeleteThey have claimed a fake ceasefire in order to join †нє ramadan fast. A privilege they have denied others.
ReplyDeleteThe guys are merely rebooting for the greatest onslaught ever. A ceasefire coming immediately after innocent kids were gunned down like game in the forest? Crap!
ReplyDeleteNigerians forget things quickly & dont think fast. Boko haram cease fire bcoz of Ramadan.And pple can not just get this.Lets wait and see!
ReplyDelete