Punch Amnesty panel comes under fire over victims’ compensation JULY 2, 2013 BY JOHN ALECHENU, CHARLES ABAH, EMMANUEL OBE, FRIDAY OLOKOR AND GODDY ISENYO Various socio-political groups, on Monday, criticised the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of the Security Challenges in the North, for ruling out compensation for victims of the Boko Haram violence. The groups, including the Northern Elders’ Forum, the Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, and the Ndigbo Unity Forum, condemned the position of the committee. The Chairman of the Presidential committee, Tanimu Turaki, had at the national conference of Muslim leaders organised by Jama’atul Nasril Islam in Kaduna on Sunday, said only security operatives, who lost their lives, would be compensated. He said, “Government will not have the capacity to give compensation because of the number of victims involved in the insurgency.” The committee was set up by President Goodluck Jonathan on April 17, 2013. Faulting the committee chairman, the spokesman for the NEF, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja, said the government was confused. Abdullah said, “I don’t know the gain of this kind of pronouncement when you say you want to end a crisis. “And in this crisis, there are many stakeholders and interested parties. Why are you fidgeting? “You may as well forget the issue of amnesty if you are not going to compensate people who have lost something because of this crisis. Then you will also be moving away from what you have done in other parts of this country. “I don’t know in which context the minister spoke but there is a lot of indication that a lot of confusion is already setting in because there is no transparent sincerity in the effort of government to resolve this crisis peacefully.” On its part, Afenifere said it was callous to say that the victims would not be compensated. The group, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Yinka Odumakin, said the committee should have identified victims of the Boko Haram insurgency. It stated, “In the first place, Afenifere would like to know how many victims of the insurgency the committee has indentified so far for it to come to the conclusion that government lacks the capacity to compensate them. Is there a data or just an assumption off the cuff? “We also note the contradiction in terms as Turaki in another breath said, ‘How do you compensate somebody who has lost family members? How much will you compensate him with when he is battling with the psychological effect of the incidents?’ “The question then is how is the committee going to determine the compensation for military personnel and the value to place on their lives? Is one life more important than the other?” Also, the Ndigbo Unity Forum expressed shock at the submission of the committee. The President of the forum, Mr. Augustine Chukwudum, told one of our correspondents that the recommendation was a clear demonstration of the pathological marginalisation of Ndigbo in Nigeria. He said, “When the victims are from other tribes, they will not waste time in providing them succour and paying them compensation.” But the umbrella body of the North, Arewa Consultative Forum, supported the Federal Government for ruling out any form of compensation for the victims of the Boko Haram. The National Publicity Secretary of the ACF, Mr. Anthony Sani, in response to a text message by one of our correspondents in Kaduna, also ruled out compensation to even the security operatives, who died in the course of their duty in the various attacks by the Boko Haram sect. The text message read, “To the best of my knowledge, government has compensated no group in the past for violence, including security people who died in the course of the job.” The Christian Association of Nigeria, said it would wait for the government’s White Paper on the committee before commenting on the statement. The association had, at different fora, called for compensation for Christians, who were victims of the Boko Haram violence. On Monday, the General Secretary of CAN, Dr. Musa Asake, told one of correspondents that it was only after the submission of the committee’s recommendation that the association would speak.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:38:07 +0000
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