AMMNESTY FOR BOKO HARAM: CHIBOK GIRLS MUST COME BACK ALIVE BY JOSEPH AMBAKEDERIMO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NIGERIA REBIRTH INITIATIVE (NRI) BEING A PAPER PRESENTED AT THE FORMAL OPENING CEREMONY OF NATIONAL REFORMER NEWSPAPER’S OFFICE

The president should have a rethink and discard all the calls from those who are against amnesty for Boko Haram.

It takes two sides to make and have peace, the Borno elders should also play their part by prevailing on the insurgents to lay down their arms and embrace dialogue. They should know that their demand or an Islamic state for Nigeria is practically impossible if this is the only bargaining chips that they have to enter into dialogue with government. To practice any religion or mode of worship is not by force or coercion, it has not happened anywhere in the world and Nigeria cannot be the country to be used as a reference point.

I know majority of these people are green with envy, when they hear on daily basis the amount of money that is being budgeted for the Niger Delta  Amnesty Programme, and this might just be some of the root causes of what we are seeing today. In spite of all the jumbo amount of money expended by government for the protection of pipelines we still see astronomical rise in the theft of crude oil, and government loosing monies to the tune of N7Bn monthly. No government will survive with this kind of financial hemorrhage.

At the height of the insurgency  in the N/D, l opposed the visit of the president, then vice president to the creeks to meet with the militants because it is demeaning and that singular act emboldened these boys to see themselves as untouchables in society and that might is right, and carrying of guns to intimidate and cause destruction of lives and properties and get the attention of government is the only means to an end, and of course they got the attention of government and today we have a different ball game with every ethnic group holding onto one issue or the other to cause havoc and get the attention of government to address them and it goes on like a Domino. And if we are not careful we should be prepared to encounter another group from another part of the country agitating for one thing or the other. And how do we deal with that. Therefore, if the amnesty for Boko Haram sails through government has to device a means to come up with measures to curtail or outlaw ethnic militia. After all some of these people parading themselves as militants and Ex-Militants would have been in prison paying for the crimes committed against the Nigerian state.

The reason given by the N/D militants for their insurgency then has not changed, the N/D still remains under-developed, environmental degradation is still prevalent, disease and oil pollution related diseases are still prevalent in the  area, there is dearth of infrastructure, the call for the relocation of the headquarters of the OIC’s to the region did not materialize, the call for the employment of qualified indigenes of the area did not materialize, so what did we gain from the insurgency, safe for the enrichment of some few persons who now see themselves as thin Gods and have become kingmakers overnight, all because we have degenerated to a level of where anything goes and a society only fit for animals. If these are the things that have happened, what about those that where killed, those that lost loved ones, those kidnapped so on and so forth.

The same thing could be applied to the Boko Haram issue. I will advise the government to pay reparation to families of those who may have lost loved ones and those that have suffered one form of agony or the other as a result of the Boko Haram insurgent activities.

The sultan of Sokoto and others who have called for amnesty for the Boko Haram insurgents have taken bashing from a cross section of Nigerians without weighing the implications of the continued activities of the sect members on the body politic of this country. The emergence of the Boko Haram sect is similar to the emergence of the N/D militants all of which were used by politicians and grown to become monsters that have now threaten our existence as one people.

It is abundantly clear that the government cannot deal or curtail the activities of the insurgents therefore it will be trite for government to give amnesty in all its ramifications, because there is no way we can allow people to continued to be killed.

What about the 2015 elections approaching, are we sure people can come out to vote in these places or the elections will be conducted and a winner declared without the affected states participating in the general elections. Have we thought of all of these how the future will look like and all what we pursue now is who takes power in 2015.

This brings us to the Bayelsa example of what we have now. The government has refused to accord anybody a special status be you an Ex- militant, freedom fighter etc. Laws are promulgated to check and checkmate these categories of persons and sanity have since returned to the state capital and its environs. This is what government would have done way back then, than going to the creeks to talk. What we have now is that government action is belated in trying to use force to correct the anomaly; therefore govt needs to re-strategize and employ the tactics that will bring an end to the crisis because the president will not continue to preside over a troubled nation.

On not giving amnesty to purported ghosts, who are then  the persons detained in various prisons. We have been feed with stories of women who are wives to sect members being held in various prisons. Are these women also ghosts? Let government proclaim the amnesty and the foot soldiers held in prisons freed and their leaders will eventually come out to show their faces, just like the N/D militants did, the foot soldiers first came out and eventually the leaders came out. Some of the leaders even came out on the last day of the amnesty proclamation. Some leaders of the N/D persuaded some of the leaders to accept the amnesty and today everybody is happy for it. This l believe will happen with the sect members as the elders of the affected states will surely do same with suspected sect members and everybody will be better for it.

Just like the N/D issue, people are making money from the whole affair and these are the ones shouting on the roof top to discourage government from proclaiming amnesty. The president should look at the matter critically, holistically and judiciously and tow the path of reason and let this matter that is threatening to divide this country be put to rest and we all move on as one people.

After all we hear that the American government is in talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan through back channels. As the negotiations are o going there is still insurgent activities from time to time and the talks go on. So why should our own be different. Why should we not borrow a leaf from the Americans? In spite of all the sophistication of the Americans in warfare they have expressed the willingness to engage the Taliban in dialogue. To end this submission l call for the release of the CHIBOK GIRLS unarmed. And President Goodluck Jonathan should declare for his second term whether the Chibok girls are released or not. This matter cannot hold him down, if it does then it will be seen that President Jonathan has been stampeded out of office.

Joseph Ambakederimo

Executive Director.

Nigeria Rebirth Initiative ( NRI)