You are reported to have set up an inter ministerial committee to work out modalities for granting “amnesty’” to Boko Haram. Several groups and prominent individuals, such as the Sultan of Sokoto, wife of the former President, Hajia Turai Umaru Musa Yar Ádua, some state governors and Islamic ideologues have rallied round the clamor for same and for the first time since, you, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan became President, certain sections and elements in the country are applauding the Federal Government for “’good thinking”
The amnesty granted to restive youths of the Niger Delta is often cited as a good example of settling youth restiveness and has often been relied upon as justification for the call for amnesty to Boko Haram.
While we allow the experts in government to analyse the correctness or otherwise of this it should not be difficult to see that the comparison between a political/economic based agitation (as was the Niger Delta issue) and a religious/political ideological- based struggle (as is the case with the Boko Haram) is either mischievous or just cheap blackmail.
THE VICTIMS In the last three years, besides the isolated bombings in Abuja, the Boko Haram have bombed over 200 churches and killed over 1,250 Christians worshipping in their churches, burnt and destroyed whole villages, targeted specific communities/individuals and have made good every threat they published at inception, to wit the elimination of all Christians from Northern Nigeria and the total Islamisation of the North by imposition of strict sharia rule. It is necessary to state that the real targets and casualties of the genocide have been the indigenous Northern Christian communities of the North ordinarily referred to as the Middle Belt and of course other Nigerians who by reason of vocation or trade reside in the North. Igbo traders and travelers, and Christians from the southern part of Nigeria who live in the north have also been targeted, the latest being the bombing of commercial buses in Kano.(See attached list of attacks against Christians in Nigeria)
The Boko Haram, even as the champions of this amnesty are on the campaign trail, have in the last seven days attacked and destroyed Middle Belt communities in Southern Kaduna state, Adamawa state (where the village of the Deputy Governor and the house of the deputy Governor, a Christian was targeted and destroyed), Riyom in Plateau State, parts of Taraba, Nasarawa and Benue states. Indeed, statistics released by International agencies show that more Christians were killed in Nigeria in the year 2012 for their faith than the rest of the world combined.
It may be noted that the Boko Haram attacks spiked after the April11, 2011 elections.
We are aware that since then the President has gone out of his way, to the detriment of the victims of the attack to give political patronage to the Hausa Fulani Muslim politicians, who argued loudly that one of them should have replaced President Umaru Musa Yar Adua.
The amnesty programme, is therefore, just another way of placating or conceding to the Hausa and Fulani Muslim interest. Amnesty in this case, is another way of rewarding Boko Haram for killing Christians and destroying churches.
The arguments for amnesty to the Boko Haram, as far as the Middle Belt Dialogue is concerned are neither patriotic, conciliatory nor logical.
They are self serving, dangerous and potentially greatest threat to the security of the nation and will obviously open the country to international disrepute. We do not believe that Boko Haram and its associates are prepared for genuine peace where the right to worship and life of other Nigerians would be respected.
The proponents of the amnesty programme have never sympathized with the victims. Rather they issue provocative statements justifying the ethnic and religious cleansing that Boko Haram has been engaged in, and condemning the security forces contending with the lawless and bloody group that Boko Haram is.
Furthermore, in some instances where Christians have attempted to rebuild their bombed churches, civil and traditional institutions have stopped them. In any case, in places such as Kano, Christians have been denied land to build churches, and even when land is sold to them, the buyers are warned not to use such plots for brothels, beer parlours and churches.
Indigenous Christians in Kano and Katsina states for instance are denied rights and privileges extended to Muslims. At the Bayero University Kano authorities have denied Christians land to build churches; only recently the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria refused to allow the Catholic Church land to build a chapel. About two years ago Boko Haram asked Christians and southerners to get out of northern Nigeria; earlier it categorically stated that its objective is to islamise Nigeria and impose sharia.
It is therefore clear to us that the politicians and traditional institutions of Northern Nigeria who are refusing to allow Christians worship freely by denying them land to build churches, political appointments, employment in the state civil service and denying children of Christians access to public schools in states such as Bauchi, Kano, Katsina, Borno and Yobe have the same mission as the Boko Haram.
The only difference is that Boko Haram is using crude violence to achieve what politicians and traditional institutions are using other means to achieve.
Secondly we believe that the proposed Amnesty ignores the well known links of Boko Haram to the Al Queda and may open up the country to greater security risks. Which of the Boko Haram member is local and which one has international links?
Thirdly, comparing Boko Haram to the Niger Delta militancy is mischievous and disingenuous. The Niger Delta militancy was about resources and not faith. No mosques were targeted and Muslims were not targeted and attacked. The fact that killings are still going on in the Niger Delta today make the amnesty not such a creditable solution, anyway.
Proponents of amnesty to Boko Haram also argue that poverty is at the root of the insurgency. If this were the case, the whole of the country would have been up in flames with Christian youths killing Muslims and burning Mosques as poverty, excruciating poverty, and employment among youths is a nationwide phenomenon.
In any case, existing data show that no state of the country is immune from poverty- and as a matter of fact, Middle Belt states such as Benue, Nassarawa, Taraba and Plateau have had a steeper drop into poverty, resulting in bigger trauma.
The argument about lack of education or collapse of educational infrastructure is hollow. Bomb making (mixing of chemicals, joining of electrical wires and connecting to wireless devices such as a remote controls) is not a vocation for illiterates – and poor people.
We do know that expensive cars, jeeps and pickup trucks are used by Boko Haram activists; AK 47 and the new AK 49 riffles that are used by Boko Haram don’t come cheap. How can poor youths afford such?
These are provided by local or foreign supporters and sponsors who need to show their faces for any meaningful discussion leading to amnesty can commence.
The inescapable conclusion is that Boko Haram is a political tool used by the Hausa and Fulani Muslim political elites in their unhidden quest to dominate Nigerian political space – which is why, the elites lied to their people that they are the majority in population, and deserve the right to dominate Nigeria.
The 1952 population census and the 1963 census, however, conclusively prove that they are not in the majority. As a matter of fact, Muslims in Nigeria then constituted 47% of Nigerian population. While the Hausa and Fulani constituted 48% of the population of the Northern region, the minority ethnic groups in the Northern region constituted 48%. Of the population of the Northern Region.
Hausa-Fulani Muslim traditional rulers, politicians and preachers incite their young people against other Nigerians with the falsehood that they are the majority who should be ruling Nigeria. In several video and audio messages, they incite their young people against Nigerians who do not belong to their tribe or religion. These leaders of the Hausa and Fulani laid the foundation for the actions and activities of Boko Haram.
This is why even PDP Governors and party officials did not campaign for or vote for President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2011 election. Some PDP Governors, even printed posters with the CPC Presidential candidates picture super imposed. Several top PDP officials, several serving Ministers then and now and PDP Governors voted against President Jonathan in 2011.
The way Forward
The solution to the insurgency of the Boko Haram, therefore, is for these leaders to go back to re –educate their followers that Nigeria belongs to all Nigerians irrespective of tribe or religion, that in Nigeria, there is no state religion and all religions have equal rights.
Failure or refusal to do this re education openly will strengthen groups such as Boko Haram and weaken Nigeria. How many of these leaders have openly countered Boko Haram’s order for southerners and Christians to leave the North?
Without this, no amount of money thrown at Boko Haram will change the situation – and as a matter of fact, the money thrown at them will be used to fight other Nigerians. There is no guarantee that they will not use the money thrown at them to buy more bombs and guns.
Furthermore, it is imperative that Your Excellency stop your wrongheaded Almajiri education programme which excludes Nigerians of other faith, and leaves these youngsters at the mercy of Mallams who tell them to ignore the right to life of other Nigerians.
Rather than create the Almajiri education which is exclusive to Muslims and therefore illegal and unconstitutional, government should have expanded educational space in existing public schools to allow for children of all persuasions to be educated together. As long as the Hausa and Fulani are treated as a special class above all other Nigerians, so long too, will they violently seek to impose their faith, way of life and political domination on other Nigerians?
Our Position
We believe that the Amnesty programme is an ill wind that blows no good. However, we are not unmindful of the blackmail and undue pressure that has been exerted on Mr President to embark upon this journey to nowhere We would like to call the attention of President Goodluck Jonathan to the following:
1 As evidenced from the post -2011 election violence orchestrated by the Hausa Fulani political elites in both the PDP and CPC and their supporters after one of their own lost the Presidential election; our people in the Middle Belt paid the supreme price for supporting Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 to become President and the glaring records show that Boko Haram was commissioned to kill, destroy and eliminate all the non Muslim communities in Northern Nigeria. This was carefully planned and executed as hired and well armed bands of attackers went on rampage killing any known or perceived Christian in the North, towns and villages where the President won the election were carefully selected and destroyed.
Without addressing the wickedness of all this destruction Government ignored our people and till date no one has been compensated or resettled; in contrast, Government appeased the attackers or their sponsors with choice appointments and contracts. We would like the President to answer the following questions ?
1 WHAT IS GOVERNMENT’S POSITION ON THE VICTIMS OF THE BOKO HARAM (Northern Christian Communities)?
2 WHAT IS BOKO HARAM’S POSITION VIS-A-VIS THE GROUP’S MAJOR OBJECTIVE OF RELIGIOUS CLEANSING OF THE NORTH?
3 WHO IS ON THE NEGOTIATING TABLE ON BEHALF OF/REPRESENTING THE NORTHERN CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES? (Or are we going to be ignored again as in the Lemu Panel of Inquiry into the post election crisis)?
4 How about southerners living in the north. Who is representing them in the amnesty discussion?
Assuming the Federal Government bows to this blackmail of amnesty, we would urge Government to seek firm undertaking from Boko Haram on the following:
• The leadership of the violent group(s) must come out of the closet. It is untenable to carry on negotiation by proxy. Only those that are in a position to make decisions on behalf of the group(s) should be negotiated with. It is, certainly, bad form to negotiate with persons who would need to seek approval elsewhere for agreements reached;
• All factions of the group must be involved in the negotiations.
• A precondition for negotiation is renunciation by Boko Haram and any other such group of violence. Government must not be seen to be negotiating out of fear;
• Boko Haram and such groups to be negotiated with must undertake to submit to the Federal Government a register of all their members. It is on the basis of real persons, not unidentifiable groups, that amnesty can be granted;
• Boko Haram and such groups must surrender to the Federal Government all arms and ammunition in their possession;
• Boko Haram and such groups to be negotiated with must disclose their source(s) of finance and arming to the Federal Government on a confidential basis;
• All members of the group(s) to be granted amnesty must sign an undertaking to never again to revert to violence; • Boko Haram and other such groups must undertake to repay the assessed cost of damages wreaked on private property and places of worship; and ,
• Boko Haram and other such groups must offer unconditional apology to Nigerians for the damage that has been done to their psyche through their activities.
• All Churches and houses destroyed must be rebuilt and displaced communities resettled/compensated.
The Boko Haram crisis affects more than government. No negotiation by government with the terrorists will suffice. The Middle Belt people, and Christians living in the north who are the primary victims and targets of the terror have to be part of the negotiation as the Nigerian state CAN NOT and DOES not have the authority to determine for people how and where they can worship. Every form of compensation or payment, educational programmes that is granted to the terrorist group and its members must also be made to the victims.
Emmanuel Alamu For: Secretariat April 13, 2013
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