OLALEKAN ADETAYO writes on confusion trailing efforts of the Federal Government to end terrorism in the country through dialogue and denials
The fundamentalist Islamic sect, Boko Haram, has been claiming responsibilities for most, if not all, the bombings recorded in the Northern part of the country for over one year.
The bombings have left in their trail cries of orphans whose parents were sent to their early graves, tears of widows and widowers whose spouses were snatched from them at their prime as well as the wailing of helpless family members whose breadwinners were killed in most gruesome manner.
In spilling the blood of innocent persons no place had been spared: churches, mosques, schools, police stations, workplaces, markets and government buildings have all been bombed. These are happening despite the usual claims by security agents that they are “on top of the situation.”
So intense has the campaign of bloodletting become that Nigerians, leaders and followers alike, no longer sleep with their eyes closed. All stakeholders are desirous of an urgent end to the orgy of violence.
It is therefore understandable why panic-stricken members of the public are elated whenever they hear the news of any concrete steps being taken by the Federal Government to put the situation under control.
Such a step that has been eliciting interest from all is the much-talked-about dialogue between the government and the sect. Not a few Nigerians are of the view that the crisis can be restored through negotiation.
That was why a lot of Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief earlier this year when they got hints of the move by the President of the Supreme Council of Sharia in Nigeria, Ibrahim Datti Ahmad, to mediate in the discussions between the two parties.
But the joy was short-lived when Ahmad announced that he was withdrawing from the talks. He said in a statement that he had come to doubt the sincerity of the Federal Government, after information from a confidential meeting was leaked to the press. He had confirmed that his group had made contact with “leadership of the sect and established from them that as Muslims they were prepared to consider ‘Sulhu’ which means ‘broad reconciliation’ regarding the dispute between them and the government.”
Last month, another ray of hope appeared in the horizon when the news of renewed talks between the two parties made headlines. The Voice of America had reported that a purported spokesman for Boko Haram, one Habu Mohammed, said the group and the Federal Government were involved in direct talks on ways to end violence in the North.
According to the VOA, Mohammed, who claims to be a deputy to Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, said in a statement the group decided to initiate the peace moves in response to numerous public appeals for peace in the country.
The Federal Government, through the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, had since accepted to hold dialogue with the sect in order to arrest insecurity in the country as soon as possible. “We have accepted dialogue as a way of bringing the (insecurity) situation to an end as quickly as possible. We have always called on those engaging in violence to stop because violence can’t solve any problem. So we welcome the decision to discuss,” Maku told journalists in Abuja.
Nigerians were already waiting anxiously to see if the negotiation would be successful this time. They were of the view that all things being equal, a lot of grounds would be covered in the fresh talks with both parties expected to shift grounds on their earlier hard-line postures.
Earlier demands of the Islamic sect had included release of their members being detained and prosecuted and President Goodluck Jonathan’s resignation or his conversion to Islam. However, the Presidency had spurned these demands.
New demands were said to have been introduced by the sect in the ongoing negotiations. One of the sect’s fresh demands, it was learnt, was the payment of compensation or Diyya for their members, considered, “killed unjustly” by security forces. The sect is reported to have identified about 24 of such members. One of them was the leader of the group, Mohammed Yusuf, who was killed in 2010 in Maiduguri, after he was reportedly captured alive by soldiers.
Yusuf was then handed over to the police, under whose custody, he died mysteriously.
It was learnt that the sect put the compensation to each of the family of the 24 deceased members at N2m. Consequently, for the 24 families, the Diyya to be paid is N48m. It was learnt that government might accede to the Diyya demand.
Apart from compensation, the sect is also pressing for the release of those clamped into detention without committing any crime. Under this category of persons are women and children whom they said were innocent.
Confirming the readiness of government to take a second look at the sect’s demands, Maku again issued a statement on Saturday indicating government’s readiness to look into the sect’s grievances.
“The Federal government wishes to reiterate its willingness to listen to the grievances of the sect. It is our hope that this process will lead to restoration of peace, security and tranquillity to Northern Nigeria,” he had said.
Apparently drawing a lesson from the earlier truncated talks, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State has appealed to the media not to publicise the fresh dialogue process so as not to sabotage the process. He made the appeal in a Sallah message issued by his Special Adviser on Communication, Isa Gusau.
He said, “At this point, I appeal to members of the media to kindly ignore and not report whatever efforts being made by any stakeholder towards achieving dialogue over the current crisis so as not to sabotage the process. I believe the media has a responsibility to inform members of the public by searching for credible information and reporting it. The media will not be doing anything illegal by reporting efforts to resolve the ongoing crisis, as it has the responsibility to probe happenings in our national lives but as they say, necessity can alter routines, and in this case, I appeal to the media not to report whatever efforts being made so that we can succeed and make our society safer for all of us.”
But expectedly, some Nigerians are already skeptical about the success of the fresh talks. A human rights activist, Mallam Shehu Sani, is one of them. Shehu, who is the National President of the Civil Rights Congress, said the Federal Government might be deceiving Nigerians about the dialogue between it and Boko Haram. He argued that the talks might have been designed by the government to give Nigerians false belief that the government was on the verge of combating insecurity in the country.
Shehu’s concern is that the leadership of the Islamic sect had not come out categorically through its channel of communication, on its decision to enter into round-table talks.
Shehu is not alone in his pessimism. He has an ally in Governor Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State. Elechi was quoted as saying that the decision by the Federal Government to enter into negotiation with the Boko Haram insurgents would bear no fruits, insisting that the sect is being propelled by political motives related to the emergence of President Jonathan as presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party.
Speaking when Muslim faithful in the state paid him Sallah homage, the governor was quoted as saying that there was no basis to negotiate with the sect since, according to him, their initial claim of fighting against western education flies in the face of reality their use of products of western civilisation like telephone handsets and travelling in aircraft.
As if confirming Shehu and Elechi’s fears, the sect has debunked reports that it has accepted to dialogue with the Federal Government and wondered why the media was giving publicity to what it described as unfounded claims.
A statement signed by Abul-Qaqa, which was emailed to newsmen, said the group recognised only two attempted dialogue offers in 2011 even though both of them failed midway.
The group wondered why the media was giving publicity to what it described as unfounded claims.
The group warned media organssations against conspiring with government officials to mislead the public.
The group said, “There is no difference between those who fight us with guns and those who fight us with their tongues and pens. All of them are our enemies and we would not be merciful in dealing with them. This is a very important, it is a response to the news we heard in the media alluding to the fact that we (members of the group) have renewed dialogue with the Federal Government. We want to use this opportunity to send strong warning to the following: The first group is the media (both print and electronic). We want to remind them that the reason why we earmarked some media houses for attacks, including Thisday is because they have not been fair to us and are extremely critical about our cause of promoting Islam.”
Amid the confusion over dialogue, one thing is not in doubt: Nigerians are earnestly waiting for lasting peace to be restored to the country soon and they will support any legitimate move to achieve this.
