PRESIDENT
Goodluck Jonathan on Friday held a closed door meeting with the service chiefs
over the rejection of the offer of amnesty for the Boko Haram insurgents.
The leader of the sect, Mallam Abubakar
Shekau, had on Thursday in an audio message made available to journalists
spurned Federal Government’s amnesty offer, saying that rather, it was the
government that wronged the sect and should seek forgiveness from it.
A military source told Saturday Tribune
that the meeting resolved, after an exhaustive session, that the rejection
notwithstanding, government should still go ahead with the amnesty.
According to the source, the thinking was
that the amnesty offer would offer a window of opportunity for those members of
the sect that were being forced to remain in the sect to come out and surrender
to the state, while those who continue to dare the government would be dealt
with.
“What I can tell you now is that President
Jonathan and the service chiefs met to discuss the next line of action with the
rejection of the amnesty by Shekau group. They deliberated whether they should
still go ahead with the programme or not with the new development and after the
usual frank talk among themselves, they resolved to go ahead with the programme
for political and strategic reasons,” the source disclosed.
Shekau had sneered at the government’s
offer, insisting that it was the Federal Government that should be given
amnesty and not his group. He added that as a matter of fact, even if
government asked it for forgiveness, the sect was not ready to grant it.
“We are the ones to grant them pardon. Have
you forgotten their atrocities against us? We are surprised that today it is
the Federal Government saying it will grant us amnesty. Oh God, is it we who
will grant you amnesty or you are the one to grant us amnesty?
“What have we done? If there is room for
forgiveness, we are not going to do it until God gives us permission to do it.
Have you forgotten your sin? Have you forgotten what you have done to us in
Plateau, the state you called Jos? We emerged to avenge killings of our Muslim
brothers and the destruction of our religion. Was it not in Plateau that we saw
people cannibalizing our brothers?,” he said.
At the Friday meeting were the Chief of
Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Saad Ibrahim; the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-General
Azubuike Ihejirika; Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Alex Badeh and the Chief of
Navy, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba.
While this was going on, six members of the
sect and a soldier were gunned down in a shootout in Kano when the JTF raided a
hideout of the sect on Friday.
Spokesman for the JTF, Ikedichi Iweha, told
newsmen that one soldier was killed during a raid on a hideout of suspected
insurgents in Sheka, Kumbosho Local Government Area of Kano, while six members
of the sect were killed in a shootout there.
The clash occurred at about 4.30 a.m.
Iweha also disclosed that five women
believed to be their (terrorists) wives and three toddlers were rescued during
the clash.
The slain soldier was said to be from the 3
Brigade of Nigeria Army, Kano, while some wounded members of the sect have been
taken to the hospital.
While speaking on the development, the JTF
spokesman said the building where the insurgents operated from was demolished
and some weapons recovered.
According to him, the clampdown on the
terrorists’ hideout followed some arrests made by the JTF in Mariri Quarters,
on the outskirts of Kano, which later led to the discovery of the hideout.
He said: “We engaged the terrorists in a
gun duel which lasted for some hours. On our arrival at the house, they
immediately opened fire, but our superior fire power subdued them, which
resulted in the killing of six of their members while a soldier later died of
gunshot wound in the hospital.”
Iweha also said that two AK-47 rifles, 150
rounds of ammunition, some explosives and five magazines were recovered from
the scene.
In a related development, Saturday Tribune
gathered that military authorities have resolved to present a common report and
recommendations to the panel set up last week, headed by the National Security
Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd.), where they will insist on retaining
soldiers on the streets of terror-prone states.
Last Tuesday, the Chief of Defence Staff,
Admiral Ibrahim, met with all the service chiefs, where they deliberated on the
proposed amnesty.
The meeting, which according to military
sources lasted several hours, reviewed what transpired at the Security Council
meeting and each of the service chiefs presented positions before they were
merged together for onward transmission to the NSA panel as a memo.
The source said further: “The meeting reviewed
the minutes of last week’s Security Council meeting, including the media
reports. They all agreed there was need to let the amnesty option be, but they
(service chiefs) all agreed that the leadership of the Boko Haram sect would
never accept it, and this would justify their position that it is only force
that could call the terrorists to order.
“The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen
Ihejirika, at the meeting reiterated his position that ‘You don’t negotiate
with terrorists anywhere in the world because of their selfish agenda’. The
Chief of Defence Staff himself explained to the team that as a Muslim, he knew
that the Boko Haram sect members were not behaving as Muslims.
“He urged his colleagues to let the amnesty
be the alternative to force, saying that those who accept it must meet certain
conditions and would be kept under watch, while those who reject it should be
dealt with.”
Another source told Saturday Tribune that
the service chiefs, in their report, stated that the soldiers should remain on
the streets as long as the bombings continued. They faulted those calling for
their (soldiers) withdrawal, insisting, “as long as the factor that brought the
soldiers on the streets persists, our soldiers remain on the streets.”
The source further explained that the
military strongly believes that some people are using the sect for political
reasons, while some are harbouring them, believing they are fighting a worthy
cause. He also said that there was a resolve to ensure good welfare package for
the soldiers involved in the war against terror.
If their recommendations are accepted, some
retired military officers might be among those that will constitute the amnesty
committee. The recommendations may be submitted ahead of next week’s Security
Council meeting.
Saturday Tribune recalls that President
Jonathan last week mandated the NSA to set up a panel to study the possibility
or otherwise of granting amnesty to the Boko Haram sect, whose members have
been terrorising some states in the North in their quest to impose Sharia on
the polity.
At the meeting presided over by the
president were the NSA, the service chiefs, the Inspector-General of Police,
Mr. Mohammed Abubakar; the Director-General of the State Security Services,
Ekpenyong Ita; Director, Military Intelligent (DMI), Brigadier- General Letam
Wiwa; Director-General, Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA), Major General S. Y.
Audu.
Others were the ministers of state for
Defence, Erelu Olusola Obada; Interior, Abba Moro, and that of Police Affairs,
Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade.
The committee has as its terms of
reference: To consider the feasibility or otherwise of granting pardon to the
Boko Haram militants; collate clamours arising from different interest groups
who want the Federal Government to administer clemency on members of the
religious sect; and to recommend modalities for the granting of the pardon,
should such step become the logical one to take under the prevailing
circumstance.
Source: Tribune
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