Presidency, Boko Haram And The Amnesty Deal

This report tries to examine the controversy trailing President Goodluck Jonathan’s ostensible offer of amnesty for the Boko Haram sect.

The clarification made by special adviser to President Goodluck Jonthan on media and publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati was what many Nigeria had expected- that the president should contradict himself and say he didn’t grant amnesty to the heartless and depraved members of the Boko Haram sect. Since Minister of Youth Development, Mr. Boni Haruna announced last Thursday that Jonathan had offered amnesty to the insurgents, it has been widespread condemnation.

Nigerians fumed with a hazy anger that refused to vanish like vapor. How would the president direct his reasoning to the thought of granting amnesty to terrorist; cowards who go ahead to kill senselessly? If the Niger Delta militants were demanding for the development of their areas because of the oil explorations and exploitations that left their lands in a devastating state, what are the Boko Haram members demanding for?

The annoying part for those opposed to amnesty for the insurgents is that the terrorist group is not fighting for the redress of any social situation in Northern Nigeria, or for any material gain, a point which they have made clear in past press releases they had issued.

* President Goodluck Jonathan

These set of Nigerians argue that besides, Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau last year rejected federal government’s offer of amnesty. Shekau had stated clearly that he was the one who should give the federal government an amnesty. Aggrieved Nigerians wondered whether it was not a galling and injurious insult for the president to contemplate offering amnesty to redundant barbarians who have killed more than 6000 people since 2011.

Sensing that the amnesty option as announced by Boni Haruna could become inimical in the effort by the presidency to restore confidence in Nigerians who were becoming despondent over belated battle against the insurgents, Abati last Saturday said the President did not offer Boko Haram amnesty. He argued that nowhere in the president’s Democracy Day broadcast that the word was ‘amnesty’ was used.

“If you read the speech line by line, you will see that it contains the very message that the President wanted to put across and in that speech if you look at it I don’t think the President used amnesty. Instead, he spoke about those who are willing to renounce terrorism, those who are willing to embrace, opportunities have been created for them through the fact-finding committee, through the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolutions of Conflict in the North Eastern part of Nigeria. So, I will refer you basically to the speech by the president”.

Still, there are some other Nigerians who believe that if truly the president thought of granting the Boko Haram members amnesty, it was a bold step by a leader whose sole desire is to ensure the safety of his citizens, especially the ravenous school girls from Chibok still being held captive by the terrorist group.

The thinking is that the new video of the Chibok kidnapped schoolgirls in which they were said to have been seen narrating how famished and sick they have become should be enough source of worry for Jonathan.

According to a report by British newspaper Mail on Sunday, the girls in the yet to be released video said they were not getting enough food. Eight of the girls in the video, the report added, were seen pleading for their release as they stood courageously in front of the camera. “They are clearly scared, upset and trying to be brave. Four of them can be heard clearly, in their Hausa language, stating that they were taken by force and that they are hungry”.

The report further noted that the video, taken by an intermediary on May 19, had been shown to President Jonathan to serve as ‘proof of life’ for the girls and to encourage the president to accede to the sect’s demands.

The contention in the presidency in support of the president’s declaration of amnesty for members of the sect is that if it is true that the video had since been shown to the president, then Jonathan, apparently touched by what he saw must have been moved with compassion to do whatever he can to ensure that the girls are safe.

The president’s resort to the stick and carrot approach, the presidency maintain, is a desperate bid to pacify the insurgents in order to insure the lives of the girls.

“At least by the time the Boko Haram members and their brutish leader hear that there was still plans to pardon them, they would want to keep the girls safe and in a better condition.

Don’t forget that a man who is aware that he has already been condemned has no business showing compassion to anybody”, a top presidency official said. 

Source: Legit.ng