Boko Haram peace talks: Saudi Arabia not best place for dialogue – Dr Fasehun

Founder and President, Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Dr. Frederick Fasehun, has warned that Saudi Arabia, which is the proposed venue of the peace talk between the Federal Government and the group, Boko Haram was too risky.

According to Fasehun, any dialogue between the government and the sect should hold within Nigeria.

Fasehun said, “Saudi Arabia as host for talks on a purely Nigerian affair is fraught with danger.

“Therefore, Mecca will not be the ideal place for the negotiation of the security of a secular state like Nigeria and the OPC urges the government to change the venue.”

The OPC leader said Boko Haram should drop the former Head of States, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) from its list of mediators, except if the former Head of States had confirmed his membership of the group.

He said that since the sect remained faceless, government should not discuss with the group until its leaders were unveiled and known.

He said, “Much of Boko Haram’s hostility has been turned against Christians. Therefore, Christians, through the Christian Association of Nigeria, must be represented at the talks.

“Negotiations should be opened up to accommodate other ethnic interests in the conflict such as Ohaneze Ndigbo, Afenifere, Middle Belt Forum, Egbesu, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta and other nationality groups, whose indigenes have been wantonly slaughtered by Boko Haram.”

He added that professional bodies like the Nigerian Bar Association, Nigerian Union of Journalists should also be part of the peace talks.

Fasehun also said that security operatives could as well use the opportunity and arrest its leaders.

The OPC leader also said that the conditions given by the sect would make the dialogue unrealistic

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