Don’t politicise amnesty, Presidency warns.

The Presidency on Monday warned proponents of amnesty for members of the Boko Haram sect not to politicise the issue, urging them to rather take a cue from how the programme was brokered in the Niger Delta.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, gave this admonition in a statement in Abuja on Monday.

According to Okupe, President Goodluck Jonathan has nothing to gain from the prolongation of the wanton destruction of life and property by members of the sect.

He said the President expects leaders of thought in the affected states to prevail on the leadership of the sect to abandon their destructive pursuit and embrace dialogue like the militants in the Niger Delta did before amnesty was granted.

Okupe warned against using the amnesty issue to blackmail the President whose overriding desire is the peaceful and harmonious co-existence of all Nigerians irrespective of their social, religious and political leanings.

“There is therefore no need for the over politicisation of the demand for amnesty, or to blackmail the President for taking strong, patriotic but contrary views to those of some of our respected elders.

“Such, sometimes, is the nature of statecraft and in many parts of the civilised world, a situation like this is handled with equanimity and further deepening of consultation, certainly not acrimonious misunderstanding or open hatred.

“The true expectation is that our respected leaders will go back to the drawing board and increase internal consultation and networking with the aim of reaching out to the leadership of the insurgents and convincing them to do the needful and step out to be counted,” Okupe said.

He recalled that prominent leaders of the Niger Delta such as former Information Minister, Edwin Clark, former Governor Diepreye Alameieyeseigha of Bayelsa State, former Minister for Culture, Alabo Graham Douglas, and a few others cooperated fully with the late President Umaru Yar’Adua by visiting militants’ camps and persuading them to lay down their arms and allow government address their grievances in a civilised manner.

“This was the way and manner a successful amnesty programme was hatched and effected. Many local leaders and stakeholders bought into the government’s amnesty programme.

“It was carefully planned, properly structured and effectively implemented with co-operation and willing support of elders, stakeholders and well known and nationally acknowledged open leadership of the militants.

“These include: Asari Dokubo, Boyloaf, Tompolo, Atake Tom, Tamuno George, Soboma George to mention a few. They were clearly identified and they negotiated openly and transparently with the government.”

Okupe said it is for these reasons that there was need for a great restraint “when we advocate for amnesty for those among us, who have actually, through criminality engaged in wanton destruction of innocent lives, public and private properties; especially when their activities are based on ethnic and religious ideologies that actually strike at the foundation of our mutual co-existence.

“We also need to be mindful that we have other ethnic militias in the country who have remained essentially peaceful, and who may by these calls for amnesty be encouraged to now pursue violence.

“Grandstanding, undue politicisation, blackmail and insincerity will not help us as a nation. We are a nation of strong-willed, socio-culturally well differentiated society, with long standing historical ties, and we are one people with a clear destiny to lead Africa and the world.

“We must show exemplary mutual respect, affinity and cohesion strong enough to lift us together as one strong and united people, out of this quagmire and national misadventure,” he added.

Noble Laureate, Wole Soyinka, also spoke on Boko Haram members on Monday, saying they have limited knowledge of Islamic religion.

Speaking in Port Harcourt at the opening of this year’s Rivers State Education Summit, organised by the state government, Soyinka said poor knowledge of the Koran was largely responsible for why Boko Haram should despise Western education.

According to him, some of the greatest philosophers in history were Muslims, adding that there was need for members of the sect to be retrained on the content of the religion.

“Boko Haram are not educated enough about their religion to know that some of the greatest philosophers came from the religion. They have been taught one-track line (monorail) about the religion. They need to be re-educated about the religion,” he said.

Soyinka who was chairman of the opening session at the summit, said government should take urgent steps to redress the decay in the nation’s university system, stressing that he was happy to be invited to the summit to be part of a move to rebuild the educational system.

Source: Daily Independent

Tinubu will say anything to get votes.
A man that could not contain simple "Agberos"
in Lagos now acting like one strong man.

Politicizing Amnesty and saying that since Niger Delta militants were granted Amnesty, that BH should also be granted amnesty is totally wrong.
There is no basis at all comparing the 2 groups, even their visions are incomparable at all. The Niger Delta boys want control of their resources, while BH wants to force a religion on Nigerians, is it done that way? Now, looking at the scores of lives that have been lost in Boko Haram attacks, it's really really appalling.