"...treat Boko Haram members like Niger Delta militants" - Borno elders blasts Goodluck Jonathan

Some notable personalities from Borno State, the hotbed of the intractable violence perpetrated by the extreme Boko Haram sect, have faulted the argument by President Goodluck Jonathan that the government could not offer amnesty to the sect members unless they come out in the open to express their grievances.

Mr Jonathan had while speaking on Thursday at a town hall meeting in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, the second most deadly den of the Boko Haram extremists, said his administration would not grant amnesty to a faceless group that has refused to communicate with government.

The President made the comment in reaction to the call by the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad, asking the government to grant unconditional pardon to Boko Haram extremists who agree to lay down arms and embrace peace.

But speaking at a town hall meeting in Maiduguri as Mr. Jonathan concluded his working visit to Borno State, Borno elders faulted the president’s argument, describing it as inappropriate.

A former Vice Chancellor of the University of Maiduguri, Prof Nura Alkali, who was among the few elders nominated to speak at the meeting, said Boko Haram members deserved the kind of treatment given to Niger Delta militants at the height of the insurgency in the oil-rich region.

Mr. Alkali was the highest ranking elder selected to represent the official position of the Borno people at the town hall meeting with the President.

He urged the federal government to pardon the sect members the way Niger Delta militants “were heavily compensated, rehabilitated, and given all kinds of job to do”.

Mr. Alkali said, “There is nationwide call for amnesty or better still, pardon to be granted to the militants in such a way the militants in the Niger Delta were granted.


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