Nigeria:
The Amnesty panel constituted on Wednesday by the Federal Government yesterday suffered another major setback as President of the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria, SCSN, Dr. Ibrahim Datti Ahmed, turned down his appointment.
His rejection brings to two the number of persons that had pulled out of the committee.
The President of the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria, CRCN, , had on Wednesday rejected his nomination to the committee. Instead, he put forward the names of three persons through which the government could reach out to the sect leaders for dialogue.
Ahmed said he rejected the offer as a result of the bitter experience he had with the government when he voluntarily tried to mediate between the authorities and members of the Islamic sect.
He said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, Hausa Service, monitored in Kaduna yesterday that the alleged insincerity of the government led to the breakdown of peace talks with the insurgents about one and a half years ago when he initiated dialogue with the aggrieved sect members. Ahmed also faulted the composition of the amnesty committee, saying that its Chairman, who is the Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Taminu Turaki, and the secretary, also a government official, would not feed the government with the correct information but report only what it wanted to hear.
He said: “Previously, I made such moves twice and it wasn’t the government that asked me to do that and we had reached a stage where, had the government agreed with what we got, what we resolved with the sect members called Boko Haram, by now we would have forgotten everything; Nigeria would have witnessed peace by now.
“When we told the government everything we discussed with them and the agreement we had which were not difficult to do, that first of all, if the dialogue was truly genuine, their wives and children that were unjustly detained should be released because they had not committed any crime.
“We advised the government on that, we said even if you continue to detain them there was no gain in doing so. The government said they will release them but did not.
“They will feed the government with what the government wants to know and we would be in trouble with the ordinary Nigerians.
The minister and secretary will take lies to the government and we would be left quarrelling with young Nigerians, young enough to be our children.”
He reiterated that from his previous experience with the government, they were just telling lies because “during the previous attempt, it was so successful but the government caused everything to crumble like a pack of cards.”
Ahmed added: “It was just like we were going to have a peaceful resolution the next day and what the government should have done was not something difficult, just to release their wives and reduce the tension in Yobe and Borno states and stop persecuting the people there .
“The government said it was going to do that but it did not. It is the same government, it was the same Jonathan and his representative and we are the same people, nothing has changed.”
Meanwhile, the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, yesterday appealed to the Islamic sect to accept the Federal Government’s amnesty committee as the initiative faces imminent collapse.
However, the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, in 19 northern states and Abuja called on President Goodluck Jonathan not to use the taxpayers’ money for amnesty, saying it had no faith in the committee.
In a telephone interview with National Mirror, the Northern CAN’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Sunday Oibe, said the amnesty game being played by the government and the Boko Haram would be exposed soon.
CAN said: “Shehu Sani, who is a member of the committee, we read in a newspaper that he rejected the offer.
“We, Northern Christians have no faith in that committee. We can’t support Boko Haram who killed us, we know amnesty will not work.
“We are telling President Jonathan not to use Nigeria collective money for amnesty. We don’t believe in amnesty. Our stand against it still stands.”
But ACF spokesman, Mr. Anthony Sani, expressed support for the government’s action.
He said: “The setting up of the committee on amnesty by the Federal Government is a welcome development because it demonstrates the commitment of the government to pursue the amnesty option to its logical conclusion.
“We commend the government for such consciously directed efforts. We appeal to insurgents and all Nigerians to cooperate with the government so that Nigeria can make violence history.”
Sani in rejecting his appointment to the amnesty committee had named a freelance journalist, Ahmed Salkida; one Hamza Idris and Barrister Mustapha Zanna as those who could reach out to Boko Haram leaders on amnesty.
Sani said Boko Haram might also reject the composition of the committee.
He had said: “There is every likelyhood that the insurgents will reject and condemn this committee irrespective of whether I am part of it or not because they were not consulted and they don’t have any of their input in the committee.”
But former governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, called on Nigerians to support the government’s amnesty committee for peace and stability.
Musa said: “The Boko Haram committee set up by the Federal Government is in order and commendable. We can’t have a perfect committee under this condition but one thing is for peace to reign and let’s give it the benefit of doubt.
“Nigerians should support the committee. We should also encourage government, Boko Haram and the committee.”
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