Why we can’t negotiate with Boko Haram, by govt

Northern CAN opposes talks with sect

EVEN as it set up a panel on security challenges in the North-East zone, the Federal Government yesterday restated its resolve not to engage members of the Boko Haram sect in any form of dialogue.The Islamic sect has claimed responsibility for the series of violence and bombings in some northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

At the inauguration of the eight-man presidential committee on security challenges in the North-East zone, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, said the government could not negotiate with the sect because “it is a faceless organisation.” Anyim told the panel members that their duty excludes negotiating with the group because “you don’t talk with whom you don’t know.”

But officials of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 northern states and the FCT, apparently relying on earlier reports, have faulted the alleged decision of President Goodluck Jonathan to raise a team comprising of Arewa leaders to dialogue with the Boko Haram.

The region’s CAN alleged that the same Arewa leaders that Jonathan had deployed for truce talks with the armed group were behind its activities.

The Secretary-General of northern CAN, Saidu Dogo, said in Kaduna yesterday, that the government committed a fundamental error by asking members of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the Borno Elders Forum to engage the militant Islamic sect in dialogue on behalf of other Nigerians, saying that “it is an exercise in futility… because prominent northern leaders are behind the security challenges the nation now faces.”

Anyim, at the event, said the setting up of the committee was consequent upon the President’s meeting with Borno elders, who appealed to the government to adjust in the handling of security situation in the state.

He explained the meeting was called to interact with the elders and leadership of the ACF, where it was also agreed to create a forum that would give the elders and the general public a role in finding a lasting solution to the security situation in Borno and some parts of the North.

The SGF said: “The purpose of the committee is not to negotiate with the Boko Haram sect. This is because we cannot negotiate with whom we do not know. This is not a negotiating thing; the committee is only to among other terms of reference review all the issues of security challenges in the zone and proffer solutions or recommendations, which will bring a speedy resolution of the crisis.

“Negotiation may be after the report of the committee, if it is recommended that government should try to negotiate with the sect, then it may be considered.”

He also charged the panel, which has two weeks to submit its report to liaise with the National Security Adviser (NSA) to ensure that security agents discharge their assignments with optimal professionalism, as well as consult with other stakeholders regularly to ascertain the true state of affairs.

In his speech, the committee’s chairman, Ambassador Usman Gaji Galtimari, pledged that the members would work towards the realisation of the government’s aims and urged the sect to embrace the gesture. He stressed that the committee would work to guarantee all rights and privileges of the sect’s leaders and members if they come out to talk with the committee members.

He, however, asked for more time for the panel to submit its report, noting that the Ramadan period might pose a threat to its efforts of reaching out to all the stakeholders to the crisis.

Other members of the committee are Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, Senator Bala Mohammed (FCT Minister), Emeka Wogu (Labour Minister), Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed (Defence Minister), Col. Musa Shehu (rtd), Mr. Joe Kyari Gadzama and Abdullahi Shehu of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, who will serve as the secretary.

In his criticism of the move, Dogo said: “Let me tell you, nobody will say they are Boko Haram and negotiate with the panel. So, it is an exercise in futility. It is a matter of fact. When America took on Afghanistan; initially they harboured fundamentalists who were bombing and killing people. The Americans never sat with anybody to negotiate with. They went there with the might of the army, subdued the Talibans and put a more trusted leader, and that is why Kazir is there in Afghanistan today. They put in place a strong security system in that country to neutralise the activities of terrorists.

“Those people had to leave Afghanistan and the Americans started training the natives to take over their own security and it is working. The Americans will never see any Al-Qaeda and suggest that let them sit with him in a dialogue. They pursued all the leaders and made sure they were eliminated. And ever since they took the war to dislodge this people, never again has Americans been attacked.”

Dogo argued that the strategy is that government doesn’t negotiate with terrorists, adding that since the Boko Haram has listed its demands, which are impossible to meet, especially adopting Shari’a in the whole Nigeria, “why then do you start something that will end in futility. It is not going to work because they have their beliefs. That as long as the Nigerian nation exists, Sharia must be practised and imbibed by everybody, which can never happen.”

Dogo asked:  “What is the government going to negotiate with the sect? Would the government ask them to forget their Islamic belief?  To me, I feel that this is an exercise in futility. The government should not have constituted the committee. First, they have the federal might, if they mean business, in less than one month, Al-Qaeda or Boko Haram can be uprooted from this country.”

The CAN scribe said the sect’s issue is different from that of the repentant Niger Delta militants, who were fighting “to control the resources in their land, the government can negotiate with such people.”

Dogo alleged that some well-placed persons in the North adopted Boko Haram to cause mayhem. He asked: “Where will these people (Boko Haram) get resources to buy explosives and chemicals and put them together to make bombs and start attacking innocent Nigerians? If the security apparatus we have in this country meant business they can fish out those responsible and stop their activities.”

He said CAN had earlier complained of the training of terrorist groups in Jigawa State sometime ago, “when some leaders of the terrorists had the audacity to be called ‘Commander from Niger,’ ‘Commander from Chad,’ ‘Commander from Cameroun’ and so on. We reported the issue to the authorities but they did not listen to us.

“In Zaria, there was a training camp and we complained about it. The Commissioner of Police then sent a signal to the Inspector-General of Police then to investigate what we said. There was nothing done on the issue. The immediate past Director-General of the State Security Services (SSS) confirmed what we were saying. You see, they know where the problems are but the authorities just look the other way.”

Dogo said most of the people causing problems in the North are not even Nigerians. “They are Chadians, Nigeriens, Mauritanians, Camerounians, among others who were brought here to terrorise our people.

“It is our leaders in the North that employed them and encouraged the crisis. Go to any local council in the North, including Kaduna North and Kaduna South, somebody who came from Niger Republic would be given indigeneship and certificates while somebody from the southern part of Kaduna or other parts of Nigeria who is not Hausa/Fulani will be denied, even if such a person is born in the North.”

Meanwhile, CAN Secretary in Jama’a Local Council of Kaduna State, Rev. Joe Yari, has faulted the comments of the state Police Commissioner, Ballah Nassarawa that the people of Southern Kaduna were not attacked by the armed Fulanis who invaded their villages.

Yari at a press conference in Kaduna yesterday said: “To make the matter more suspicious and unjust, it has come to our notice that the 15 people arrested have been released. The police boss in the state was being economical with the truth, and this is a bad omen for peace and stability in Kaduna State.”

The civil society in Nigeria has however urged the government to establish clear rules of engagement for the Joint Task Force (JTF) deployed in Maiduguri as a way of curbing the alleged extra-judicial killings, rape, destruction of property and intimidation of the civil populace.

While it admitted that the activities of Boko Haram had assumed economic, political, social and cultural dimensions, it insisted that the allegations against JTF should be investigated.

These were the suggestions from a round-table organised by The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) and the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) in Abuja. The recommendations were contained in a statement made available to The Guardian yesterday.

Author of this article: 

-  Saxone Akaine (Kaduna), Ezeocha Nzeh and Abosede Musari (Abuja)