CITING the need to spare women and
children further calamities engendered by its activities, Boko Haram Monday
declared a ceasefire.
But the ceasefire came with some
conditions: Freedom for the arrested members of the group and the rebuilding of
the destroyed mosque of its leader, Mohammed Yusuf.
Declaring the ceasefire Monday through
a tele-conference at the Borno State Radio and Television (BRTV), spokesman of
Boko Haram, and second-in-command of the group, Sheikh Abdul Aziz said: “This
ceasefire being announced today, is a goodwill message from the Jamaatul Ahlus
Sunnah Lid Dawatil wal Jihad (Boko Haram), following a series of meetings with
government officials and leaders of thought in Borno State.
“I am announcing this ceasefire with
the consent and approval of the leader of Boko Haram sect, Sheikh Abubakar
Shekau. We therefore, call on all our members to stop all acts of violence
immediately and await further directives. We have adopted this measure as a
result of the hardship women and children are subjected to.”
He added that members of the Boko Haram
should relate the ceasefire message to those “who are not aware or informed of
today’s (Monday) development.”
Aziz explained: “The Boko Haram
ceasefire is nationwide and commences immediately.”
He, however, denied the group’s
involvement in the recent attacks and killings in Borno and other parts of the
North, attributing the violence to the activities of armed robbers and other
criminals that allegedly operate under the guise of Boko Haram.
While speaking on the violence that
took over Maiduguri recently, Aziz distanced the group from such acts, pointing
out that such attacks were politically-motivated by those seeking power in the
Borno Emirate Council, government or otherwise, but not in line with the
ideology of the group who are fighting for the cause of Allah.
He also said that the burning of old
and newly constructed primary schools witnessed across the state was not
masterminded by the group, insisting that the burning of such places was
carried out by aggrieved politicians who were denied contracts from the state
government.
He also urged the Joint Task Force
(JTF) and other security agents to respond positively to the ceasefire.
He said: “Talks with government
officials on how to surrender our arms and weapons has also commenced,” urging
members of the sect to cooperate fully, by surrendering their arms and weapons
to security agents.
Confirming the ceasefire, Borno State
Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Isa Umar Gusau said that the Boko
Haram insurgency was a national security issue, which involved the Presidency,
National Security Adviser and JTF.
Gusau also said: “The ceasefire
announced today was also as a result of Governor Kashim Shettima’s efforts at
exploring all means to end the insurgency.”
Members of the group had on November 1
last year said they were ready to ceasefire and listed some conditions. The
conditions included the arrest and prosecution of a former governor of
Borno State, and also that the dialogue must take place in Saudi Arabia.
They had also demanded that all their
members, who were arrested and under the custody of security agencies be
released immediately, just as their wives and children who were displaced
following the crises should be rehabilitated into the society to allow room for
dialogue with the Federal Government.
Nigerian mediators who were to
represent the group in the dialogue with the Federal Government had included
Alhaji Shettima Ali Monguno, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), Senator Bukar Abba
Ibrahim, Ambassador Gaji Galtimari and Barrister Aisha Wakil and her husband.
Boko Haram, which in Hausa, loosely
translates to mean “Western education is sinful”, said they were fighting to
impose Islamic law on Nigeria.
At least 2,800 people have died in the
North and Abuja since the group unleashed violence in 2009. Its most lethal
attack killed at least 186 people in Kano in January 2012 in co-ordinated
bombings and shootings.
The group has repeatedly struck
churches during services, at Christmas and Easter killing scores of people. A
bomb attack on St. Theresa’s Catholic Church in Madalla on Abuja’s outskirts
during a packed Christmas Mass in 2011 killed at least 37 people.
Last Easter Sunday, a bombing at a
church compound in northern Kaduna during a service killed at least 36 people.
In other major attacks, gunmen killed
at least 19 people in two attacks on Christian worshippers in the Nigerian city
of Kano and in the northeastern town of Maiduguri on April 29, 2012.
In June, three gunmen sprayed bullets
at the congregation of a church in Biu Town, in northeastern Borno State. In
Jos, a Boko Haram suicide bomber drove a car to the entrance of the Christ
Chosen Church and blew it up.
In the same month, a bomb attack in a
church in Kaduna triggered a week of tit-for-tat violence that killed at least
90 people.
In October a suicide bomber drove a
sport utility vehicle full of explosives into a Catholic church during morning
mass, killing eight and wounding more than 100. The most recent attack on a
church a few weeks ago was when suicide bombers struck the St. Andrew Military
Protestant Church at the Jaji barracks in Kaduna State killing 11 people and
wounding 30.
Source:
Guardian
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