Northern Leaders Now Fighting Over Amnesty Money
The Arewa Consultative Forum
and two prominent Northern
leaders on Monday disagreed on
the composition of the
committee on amnesty for the
extremist Islamic sect, Boko
Haram.
While the two activists – Mallam
Shehu Sani and Dr. Junaid
Muhammed – are of the view
that nothing worthwhile would
come out of the amnesty, the ACF
thinks otherwise. One group is
focusing on the larger picture,
the other is looking at the
material benefits, GURUSLOADED.COM.com
gathered.
Mallam Sani, a respected activist
and Executive Director of the
Civil Rights Congress, told Punch
that the process so far adopted
by the Federal Government for
the amnesty committee is faulty.
He said, “Before the amnesty,
there must be first and foremost,
a committee accepted by the
government and also recognised
by the sect. Now, setting up a
committee that is constituted by
friends of the government and
security agents will not be
accepted by the insurgents. All
committees that had been set up
in the past were dismissed by
the insurgents.
“And again, if you have a
committee to serve as a
mediator, it should extract a
commitment to a ceasefire for at
least six months and within this
period, issues about victims of
Boko Haram could now be
addressed.”
Mallam Sani said those who
attended a meeting that formed
the amnesty committee at the
Presidential Villa last week are
“government apologists” who
knew little about Boko Haram
and its mode of operations.
He went on to warn that, “If we
are not careful, we will fall intoa
trap where hundreds and billions
of naira will be paid to people
who are not part of the
insurgency. As far as I am
concerned, this amnesty is not
going to work and it is very
likely that the group will dismiss
the amnesty."
It was further gathered that
those who have set their eyes
on the money they will make
from the "faulty" process are
assuring President Goodluck
Jonathan that all is well. But how
far this go?
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