Borno State Governor, Kashim
Shettima, yesterday once again asked that the federal government grant pardon
through a programme of amnesty to Boko Haram members
According to
Thisday, Shettima's support for an amnesty programme for the terrorist group was
re-emphasised at an interactive session organised by his Special
Adviser on Communications and Strategy, Mallam Isa Gusau, with selected
journalists in Abuja.
Gusau said Shettima's call was scientific and had been vindicated by a
very desperate effort of Boko Haram leaders to stop their fighters from
leaving their fold when a group of 16 members renounced the sect's
ideology in Borno State following which they were slaughtered by the
sect's leaders.
He said: "Governor Kashim Shettima was misunderstood by many Nigerians
when in his May 29 inaugural remarks revisited his stance on the need to
apply a political solution to fighting the Boko Haram by way of
granting a window to admit those willing to surrender their arms and
renounce the Boko Haram ideology.
"Shettima has held this position from his campaign days ahead of the
2011 elections for his first term. He had always advocated a combination
of three approaches, which are: the military which is what we have in
place, an economic approach which is aimed at providing jobs for people
and discourage citizens that Boko Haram terrorists are recruiting."
"It is important to note that the governor has always
advocated that the three approaches should be applied together not
exclusively. However, the amnesty issue has been the controversial one.
The governor is not really talking about dialogue as a start, what he is
advocating is to create an opening for those ready to abandon the sect
to be able to do so freely, so that the sect can be broken.
"He is very particular about hundreds, if not thousands of members that
were conscripted or forced to join the sect and became killers against
their wish. If attacks on all communities can be efficiently done, then
there wouldn't be need for any debate on amnesty but we all have seen
that many communities have continued to suffer from these attacks
because the communities are so much, not only in Borno but round Nigeria
and we don't have the right proportion of security personnel to secure
all communities."
"When insurgents attack communities, they mostly
target male youths, they arrest them and guard them into bushes. In most
cases, even before taking them out of the towns they attacked, they
preach in support of their ideology with promises of heaven for
adherents and then openly ask aloud if any of the youths is willing to
join them or not and whoever said he is not ready to join them, they
slaughter him right there sometimes in the presence of his parents or
they lay them on row and shoot all of them in matter of seconds
targeting their skulls.
"We have seen many of these instances in videos recorded in Gwoza and
other parts of Borno State. Now, what Governor Kashim Shettima has been
saying is that hundreds of
these forcefully arrested and initiated young men may want to run away
and drop their arms and there should be a policy and programme to admit
them so that insurgents lose members and their strategy of arresting
youths and forcing them to join them which is what they apply in
sustaining their membership, can be deflated and I think the governor's
call on May 29 has been vindicated less than two weeks ago.
"You might have read it on most news platforms that on Friday, July 3,
2015, Boko Haram insurgents beheaded 11 of its members who renounced
their ideology. According to accounts by some locals, what happened was
that some members of the sect who are indigenes of some villages in
Damboa Local Government Area indicated interest in abandoning the
ideology but most of them were afraid of the consequences. Out of them,
16 summoned courage to renounce the ideology and they moved to Miringa
village in Biu Local Government Area of Southern Borno. They wanted to
join some communities like Ajigin and Talala in Damboa.
"The 16 insurgents went to Miringa on Friday, July 3 according to
locals, then at night, commanders of Boko Haram sent a team to Miringa
to fish out the 16 members that denounced the sect. The team went from
house to house and got the 16 members intact. They didn't fire any shot
in order not to attract soldiers. They took the members out of Miringa
and slaughtered 11 of them and went away with five. The bodies of the 11
executed members were found the following day while the other five were
not seen," he said.
Culled from Thisday
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Title : Governor Kashim Shettima insists on Amnesty for Boko Haram
Description : Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, yesterday once again asked that the federal government grant pardon through a programme of amnes...
