AfricCon NewsAfricCon Latest Nigerian Report: Federal Government’s amnesty plan for Boko Haram membersAfriccon Media, Nigeria
Group Politics Editor, TAIWO ADISA, examines some salient issues and matters that have been said ought to be adequately addressed before the Federal Government’s amnesty plan for Boko Haram members is finally consummated.
PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday inaugurated the Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North, otherwise known as the Boko Haram amnesty committee.
While inaugurating the committee headed by the Minister of Special Duties, Alhaji Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, President Jonathan gave the committee a huge task when he told the members to “perform magic.”
He said that Nigerians literally expects the Committee to perform magic and bring the widespread insurgency in parts of the North to an end.
The president could not have better captured the scenario leading to the setting up of the committee.
Hundreds of innocent Nigerians had fallen victim to the violence unleashed by members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect in parts of the North and the Federal Capital, Abuja, leading to many deaths and several maimed. Government buildings, residential houses and places of worship have also fallen to the bombs planted by members of the dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram. Their activities were so widespread that police stations and military formations were not seen as sacred places.
Bombs had exploded at the elite military formation in Jaji, Kaduna State, while the headquarters of the Nigeria Police in Abuja was also bombed.
At a stage, Nigerians were getting used to the news of bomb blasts as Sunday-Sunday occurrence.
The thinking in the government and among top political figures in the North appeared to coalesce as it became clear that concrete efforts at dialogue had to be evolved. The decision was thereafter taken to adopt amnesty.
That has led to the birth of the committee.
While all hands appeared to be on deck on the amnesty issue, another hell appeared to have been let loose as two key Northerners who were named into the Committee on Dialogue rejected the offer.
Comrade Shehu Sani and Alhaji Datti Ahmed rejected their nomination to serve on the committee citing different reasons.
A number of Nigerians feared that the much talked about amnesty for Boko Haram was crashing even before the committee came to life.
Opinions were also divided on the rejection of the nominations.
While some Nigerians believed that the duo of Sani and Datti Ahmed should have taken the officers no matters the temptation to the contrary, others believed that as adults, they are free to take their decisions.
It, however, emerged that their withdrawal has not taken anything away from the emergence of the Committee.
While inaugurating the Committee on Wednesday, President Jonathan thanked the members for accepting to serve, adding that a number of them were not consulted but accepted to serve their fatherland.
To the President, it was a call to serve one’s fatherland rather than a period for egoistic ventures.
But the inauguration of the committee can only be a point of departure rather than a bus stop.
As Jonathan himself noted, the task ahead is daunting and only can only be equated to a miracle or magic.
“All Nigerians are expecting this committee to perform magic and I pray that Allah will give you the wisdom to do so, because without peace we cannot develop, no matter how committed we are.
Without peace we cannot progress as a nation,” the President said, adding that the committee should work out sustainable options that could lead to the granting of amnesty to the sect and at the same time develop a comprehensive victim’s support programme.
The president further said: “And as we are trying to address this issue of Boko Haram, we must also comprehensively address the issues directly.
They must also come up with suggesting on how to address underlining causes of the crisis, in order to ensure that as a nation, we do not face a similar threat in the future.”
Opinion molders in the polity have also observed that the committee would be faced with a number of issues bothering on the fundamentals to the periphery of the Boko Haram and the amnesty saga.
One major task the committee will to firmly resolve is the real cause of the Boko Haram insurgency.
A number of commentators have argued that the insurgency has its roots in the brutal killing of the founder of the sect, Muhammed Yusuff in Maiduguri in 2009.
Yusuf was captured by military men and handed over to the Police but was shot dead in police custody.
Members were believed to have taken offence against the police, leading to widespread attacks on formations around the Maiduguri axis.
But the situation further degenerated with adherents of the sect being found in Kano, Kaduna, Niger, Bauchi, Yobe and other parts of the North.
What started as a local battle against policemen then became an ethno-religious warfare, while issues affecting the existence of the Nigerian nation started featuring.
There have been claims that the sect is propelled by religious fundamentalism, politics of power at the Federal level and the growing fad of terrorism around the Middle Eastern states, especially following the spread of Al-Qaeda terrorist group.
There is also thinking that there is a group of criminals who use the name of Boko Haram to raid banks, and other places.
The Committee will need to provide answers to the questions asked by the President as well as the silent powers contained in his message as well as determine whether the Boko Haram issue in Nigeria was political, religious, criminal, and economic or reactions to socio-economic depravations or a combination of one or two of the foregoing. .
There is also the need for the committee to appropriately segment the Boko Haram amnesty from the existing amnesty in the Niger Delta.
A number of commentators, including the former First Lady, Hajia Turai Yar’Adua have said that since the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, gave amnesty to Niger Delta militants, Jonathan, a son of Niger Delta should also not hesitate to grant amnesty to Boko Haram sect members.
That premise would however run contrary to the position of many other vocal members of the society who believe that nothing like amnesty should be on the table for Boko Haram.
The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, spoke last week and stated its rejection of the planned amnesty for Boko Haram.
One of the leaders, Chief Olu Falae said that the Boko Hara has several arms including the religious and criminal gangs and that granting amnesty to the religious or political Boko Haram would not solve the problem of insurgency.
Afenifere believes that criminality should be firmly dealt with.
Bayelsa State governor, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson, also said in an interview last week that the Niger Delta amnesty could not be equated to the Boko Haram amnesty and that while the issues in the Niger Delta were clearly defined, the issues leading to the rise of Boko Haram are still unclear.
Governor Dickson said: “Of course we all know that Boko Haram, whatever is driving them is very different from the factors that gave rise to the situation that we had here in the Niger Delta.
Whereas the insurgency in the Niger Delta was founded on economic issues – issues that had to do with rights and deprivation of rights, the one in Boko Haram is religious fundamentalism, so there is a clear distinction and even with that the President has come up with amnesty, I think as a result of the calls by some leaders in the affected areas so that amnesty can be given and they want to see whether that can make the difference, so we have to encourage that.
The question then should be whether the quest for amnesty is aimed at genuinely tackling the problem of merely aimed at aping the situation in the Niger Delta.
As it was recently revealed, the facts that propelled the Yar’Adua government to declare amnesty for the militants in the Niger Delta were quite germane. Nigeria’s oil exploration and experts were grinding to a halt.
From about 2,000 barrels per day production, the nation dragged down to about 700, 000 barrels a day.
Coupled with the sharp drop in international price of oil, the Federal Government was facing imminent collapse of the economy and it only made sense to listen to the cries of the militants and save the economy.
The strategy appeared to work magic as oil exploration and exportation immediately bounced back. Today, the country is exporting 2.4 million barrels of crude per day.
Stakeholders have also stated that there is even the prospect of expanding the production line to 2.8 million barrels per day if the communities are well pacified through the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill(PIB) currently before the National Assembly.
Another major question the committee will need to answer is the issue of compensations.
The president has said that there are many victims of the Boko Haram insurgency.
In a sense the insurgents themselves are victims.
To those who got drafted into the sect through the vicissitudes of socio-economic deprivations, intimidation and blackmail they could be seen as victims.
The families of those who have been hoodwinked to commit suicide by carrying bombs are equally victims, while a lot many who are not directly linked to the Boko Haram ideology have suffered both psychological and physical trauma.
Places of worship have been bombed, businesses have been ruined, thousands of lives have been lost while a lot many have also been maimed.
It would be complex proposing compensations for the different categories of the victims but that is the maze the committee has been asked to see through.
But the most daunting of the tasks is unmasking the masquerades behind the Boko Haram sect.
This is the real task that could define the performance of this committee.
If the committee is able to bring the real faces behind Boko Haram to the table, just like the militants in the Niger Delta were taken to President Yar’Adua, its talks would have been largely achieved and then the entire nation could heave a sigh of relieve from the dastardly acts that have characterised living in parts of the North since 2009.
