A COMMITTEE to deliberate on the possibility of granting amnesty to members of Boko Haram, the bloodthirsty organization that has engaged in the reckless elimination of hundreds of innocent Nigerians for the past two years, was commissioned on Thursday by the president and commander-in-chief of Nigeria, Goodluck E. Jonathan.
Sources at the State House in Abuja disclosed that the decision to set up the committee was reached at a meeting between the National Security and Defense Council, superintended by President Jonathan himself, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Reliable sources informed media organizations that the meeting was requested by the Mr. Jonathan in response to growing calls by prominent politicians asking for the group to be pardoned for peace to return to troubled regions in northern Nigeria.
Prominent among those who have made the demand for “unconditional amnesty” is the Sultan of Sokoto, Abubakar Saad II, whose positions as a prominent religious leader in Nigeria is often seen as selfishly in favor of his religious faith.
Only in 2012, Sultan Abubakar had recommended during a visit to Harvard University in Boston, United States, that Nigeria, a secular political entity, live by the religious tenets prescribed by jihadist Othman Dan Fodio, who overran vast swaths of the northern region during his time on a mission to conquer and dominate by force of conviction and raw might, regardless of the religious beliefs of the conquered communities.
Other leaders, including opposition politician Bola Ahmed Tinubu, have since joined the Sultan in calling for reprieve for members of an organization that is still conducting an active and debilitating aggression against the Nigerian State, without showing signs of remorse for its actions in which dozens of innocent Nigerians continue to die weekly.
President Jonathan had initially given the impression that his government would under no circumstances consider granting amnesty to an organization whose members he has repeatedly described as “faceless”.
Information Minister Labaran Maku also said as recently as Monday, during an appearance on Lagos-based Channels TV, that it is not the norm anywhere in the world for governments to grant amnesty to organizations that are in direct confrontation with state authority, suggesting that the Jonathan Administration is not open to the idea.
The latest consideration for a committee to explore the possibility of pardoning the criminal fundamentalists who have demanded that the president himself convert to Islam before it can enter into any form of negotiations no doubt will leave observers nonplussed.
A former government official based in London, in the United Kingdom, told sharpedgenews.com in a telephone conversation on Thursday that it is possible that the Nigerian government was hands-in-gloves with the politicians calling for amnesty for the merciless militants, who have targeted Nigerians everywhere from their places of worship to their daily vocational destinations.
“It is not impossible that the Jonathan Administration had given the green light to prominent leaders like the Sultan to make the appeal, to give the impression that the administration was arm-twisted to grant the pardons for these criminals and therefore protect Mr. Jonathan and his government from citizen criticisms,” the retiree said.
“You must keep in mind that the government is already overwhelmed by the activities of the so-called religious fanatics, who are nothing but uncontrollable tools in the hands of selfish politicians who commissioned them to undermine the authority of this government from Day One,” he added.
Between the Jonathan government and many of these politicians, the London-based observer said, there is a great discomfort over the activities of Boko Haram.
“One the one hand, the government wants an end to the mad bloodletting. One the other hand, the politicians feel threatened,” said the source, pointing out that amnesty will eventually be granted.
“It (amnesty) will be granted and there is nothing that will happen. This is Nigeria. (Former Governor) Alamieyeseigha was granted amnesty and everybody screamed ‘Walahi Talahi!’ but after that, what?” he asked.
According to the source, the president summoned the emergency security meeting in response to calls on the government by various interest groups to grant amnesty to the insurgent Boko Haram sect.
The source said that the committee would consider the possibility of an amnesty for the members of the sect and outline the modalities for implementing it.
Minister of State for Defense Olusola Obada said in a brief interview with State House correspondents that the deliberation was on security and efforts to contain it.
“The meeting is on the spate of insecurity, I mean what we can do to ensure that it is brought to absolute minimum,” she said.
When asked whether the issue of amnesty was discussed, the minister said: “Some issues to ameliorate the situation; some issues were discussed”.
The committee was given two weeks to submit its report.