The real Boko Haram will accept Amnesty - Yuguda

Following the rejection of amnesty by two factions of the Islamic group, Boko Haram, the Bauchi State Governor, Mallam Isah Yuguda, has said despite their refusal to lay down their arms and follow the path of peace, the idea of amnesty for the sect is still relevant because “the real Boko Haram will accept the offer of amnesty”.

However, the chances of foreseeable peace nationwide looked remote yesterday when the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) served notice to launch a bombing campaign targeted at mosques and Islamic institutions.

Yuguda, who spoke on Saturday night in Lagos when he met with some journalists, however noted that the insurgents dismissing the offer of amnesty are the criminal Boko Haram, different from the genuine ones believed to have real grievances.
 

The self-styled leader of a faction of Boko Haram, Sheik Abubakar Shekau, last week, spurned the federal government’s efforts to put together an amnesty deal when he said his members had done nothing wrong to deserve pardon.

On the contrary, he said in an audio recording distributed by email to media organisations that his group should be the one to grant pardon to the federal government for the atrocities committed against Muslims.
But Yuguda insisted that the real Boko Haram would accept the amnesty offer, advising the federal government not to deal with the criminal and politicised Boko Haram, which constitutes a menace to the nation’s corporate existence.

Yuguda also addressed the state of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), stating that regardless of the challenges of the party, it would win 35 out of the 36 states of the federation in the 2015 general election, including Lagos State. He dismissed speculations about a crisis in the governors’ fold, adding that the PDP Governors' Forum was necessary to discuss matters arising from the PDP manifesto.

The Bauchi governor was however of the view that there was a need to look into the issues that triggered the emergence of the Islamic sect such as joblessness and illiteracy, adding that those kicking against the amnesty package are the criminals and politically motivated few amongst the sect members.

He said that no true Muslim would pick up weapons and kill a fellow human being. He was emphatic on the criminal elements among the sect members, adding that the government should make it a priority to deal with them after the package has been accepted by the real sect members.  

“On the issue of Boko Haram, amnesty has been given to the real Boko Haram and I believe they are willing to accept that. That is my belief but you know there is the criminal Boko Haram and there is the real Boko Haram. “But the criminal and the political Boko Haram are the armed robbers and that arm of politicians that call themselves Boko Haram and they go about attacking people.
 

“Maybe, it is the criminal Boko Haram members that are responding that they don’t want amnesty because they have a different intention. Some of them are gunrunners; some of them are armed robbers and some of them are doing that on behalf of politicians. So they just hide under Boko Haram and perpetrate evil.

“For those that are actually Boko Haram, I would want to believe that there is something that is agitating their minds, not about killing human beings but probably there are certain things that have agitated their minds, probably, joblessness.
 

“I understand some of them are university graduates and 15 years after their graduation, they have no jobs.
“Now that the president has extended that olive branch to them, I would like to believe that they are quite happy. There has to be an end to all these. Once they have accepted, we know that we have to face the criminals.

“Any other person that is calling himself Boko Haram, we know they are the armed robbers and the political Boko Haram. “Boko in Hausa means learning in English, including learning science, medicine, biology, chemistry, Hausa, Yoruba – anything learnt in English characters. But if you learn science in Arabic, is it Boko too?” he asked.

Yuguda said it was wrong to refer to Boko Haram as a religious sect or Islamic sect, noting that there was a serious need to look at the sect and find out what their agitation is all about, because neither Islam nor Christianity permits its adherents to kill. “For any Muslim or Christian who picks up a weapon and says I want to kill, that man is a criminal. He is not a Muslim; he is not a Christian. And the earlier you start preaching this philosophy, the better for all of us.

“I become really worried when I read about the mayhem, insecurity and all that in Bauchi. I am telling you that the crimes committed in one city in any of these developed countries are more than that committed in Nigeria.

“Way back in 1999, the budget for security alone in one city abroad was in the region of about $30 billion.
“We must find a reason for the killing. It is either poverty, tribal or any other reason. But it is not religious,” he said. 

On the PDP crisis, Yuguda said the party would come out stronger and win more states in the 2015 elections, adding that there was no crisis in the party that could not be resolved.

“PDP is going to win 35 out of the 36 states of the federation, come 2015. We are winning in Lagos,” he said. Also, on the issue of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Yuguda said: “It is not a crisis. Freedom of association is guaranteed by the constitution. Today, the opposition parties are forming an association and they want to call themselves APC.
 

“So if PDP governors feel that there are certain things that are exclusive to them as PDP governors, for instance, in the PDP manifesto that they need to discuss and try as much as possible to make sure that they implement the programmes and manifesto, we should do that,” he said.

Despite Yuguda’s urging that the federal government should not drop the amnesty option for Boko Haram, another militant group in the Niger Delta, MEND, yesterday served notice to launch a bombing campaign targeted at mosques and Islamic institutions.

MEND, which last week claimed responsibility for the killing of 12 policemen in the Azuzama community of Bayelsa State, also threatened to kill Islamic clerics in what appeared to be a retaliatory step against the terrorist activities of Boko Haram, which has killed thousands of Nigerians in its four-year reign of terror.

The group however said in a statement that it might consider a ceasefire if the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the Catholic Church and its leader, Henry Okah, who was jailed by a South African court for terror-related activities, intervened.

“The bombings of mosques, hajj camps, Islamic institutions, large congregations in Islamic events and assassinations of clerics that propagate doctrines of hate will form the core mission of this crusade,” MEND spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, said in an e-mailed statement.
 

The campaign, codenamed “Operation Barbarossa”, will start on May 31, a report by Bloomberg quoted the Niger Delta group as saying.

But in a swift reaction, the Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Pulo Shield, urged people to disregard MEND's threat, stressing that the organisation was only trying to whip up sympathy.

In a statement signed by its spokesman, Lt Col Onyema Nwachukwu, the JTF said: "First, it must be made clear that the authentic MEND as we all know went into extinction since the emergence of the Niger Delta and the freedom fighters from the dark days of turbulence in the region and quite a good number of them are partnering with their various states and communities for development.
 

"Those attempting to christen themselves MEND today are impostors and a bundle of "never do wells" who want to be accorded undue recognition at the expense of the peace currently savoured in the Niger Delta.

"We urge all community leaders, opinion leaders and all peace-loving Niger Deltans not to panic but rather to firmly dissociate themselves from these criminals and to collaborate with the JTF and other security agencies in ensuring that we rid our society of these criminals."

Operation Barbarossa will be the second campaign to be announced by MEND since Okah was jailed for his involvement in the October 1, 2010 bombings of the venue of Nigeria’s 50th independence anniversary in Abuja.

MEND had announced on April 3 that it would resume attacks on oil installations in Nigeria after Okah was sentenced to 24 years in prison in South Africa on terrorism charges. Okah has denied being the leader of the group.
 

However, the Northern Speakers Forum has appealed to the federal government to include the northern governors in its amnesty committee that was set up to tackle the Boko Haram insurgence that has crippled the economy of the region.

According to a communiqué which was signed by the forum’s chairman, Stephen Onmeje, and made available to THISDAY in Minna yesterday, the group commended the federal government for taking steps that will lead to negotiations and possible acceptance of the amnesty by the sect members. The speakers also called on various state governments, elders and traditional rulers from the region to ensure that peace returned to the region in the interest of its overall development.

It called on the National Assembly to hasten the passage of the Hydro Power Producing Area Development Commission (HYPPADEC) Amendment Bill aimed at fast-tracking the commencement of the commission’s activities. The forum commended the Niger State Government for contributing substantially to the success of HYPPADEC and recommended that all states that cut across Rivers Niger and Benue be included as HYPPADEC states.

On the Mambilla hydro electricity project, the forum resolved to continue pressuring the federal government on the actualisation of the project.

Also speaking on the amnesty proposal, a PDP governorship aspirant in Ekiti State, Senator Gbenga Aluko, urged President Goodluck Jonathan not to listen to those advising him against implementing the proposed deal for the Islamic sect.
 

He said at the weekend in Ode-Ekiti, Gbonyin Local Government Area of Ekiti State that the only panacea to the current unprecedented crises rocking the north was the granting of amnesty to members of the sect.

Source: Thisdaylive