Stakeholders Express Doubts Over Nigeria-Boko Haram Ceasefire - Leadership Doubts and suspicion have trailed the announcement of the ceasefire agreement between the federal government and Islamist sect Boko Haram. Various stakeholders, as well as residents of Borno and Adamawa States where the insurgents have held sway for long now, said they would rather wait and see the outcome of the announcement. The development was however hailed by some groups, including the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF). This is not the first time the country will announce that it has reached a truce with the insurgents. In July 2013, Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Turaki announced that a cease-fire was reached on July 8 after talks with the group’s deputy leader, Mohammed Marwan but in a swift reaction, spokesman of the sect, Abubakar Shekau denied that it entered a ceasefire agreement with the government. Shekau, in a video message denied claims by the government, saying, “let me assure you that we will not enter into any truce with these infidels. We will not enter into any truce with the Nigerian government.” Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Sabundu Badeh, who disclosed the new ceasefire deal at the end of the coordinating conference on Nigeria– Camerooon Trans-Border Military Operations, held in Abuja, yesterday, said, “without any prejudice to the outcome of our three days interactions and the conclusions of this forum, I wish to inform this audience that a ceasefire agreement has been reached between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Jama’atul ahlul Sunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad. I have accordingly directed, the service chiefs to ensure immediate compliance with the development in the field.” Badeh however did not give details of how they arrived at the ceasefire pact but speaking with the newsmen, the Defence Spokesman, Major General Chris Olukolade assured that the Presidency would give the details of how the agreement was reached and the conditions attached. Also, a Nigerian presidential aide, Hassan Tukur told BBC Focus on Africa that the agreement was sealed after a month of negotiations, mediated by Chad. “As part of the talks, a government delegation twice met representatives of the Islamist group,” he said, adding that Boko Haram had announced a unilateral ceasefire on Thursday and the government had responded. “They’ve assured us they have the girls and they will release them. I am cautiously optimistic,” he said, adding that arrangements for the release of the Chibok girls would be finalised at another meeting to be held next week in Ndjamena, Chad’s capital. The announcement however aroused suspicion from Nigerians, many of who doubted the federal government’s claim, saying they would rather wait and see the outcome of the said ceasefire deal. Ahmad Salkida, a journalist said to have links with the insurgents, reacting through this twitter handle yesterday, described the declaration as another huge gimmick orchestrated by the federal government to hoodwink Nigerians and the world. “I guess Nigerians are tired & as such, any news that offers respite on this protracted war between Nigeria and Boko Haram is always welcomed. Sadly anybody that denies such good news becomes Nigeria’s enemy. But the leadership of Boko Haram are said to be miffed that a nation of the profile and magnitude of Nigeria, with high level of intelligent people is being easily encased in deceit and nobody seems to be asking tough questions. What is most worrying here is, govt at d highest level and the intelligence formations in Nigeria has embraced this ‘good news,’ this shows lack of understanding of the reality that this is an ideology that can only be neutralised after long hard work that is yet to start. It also appears that govt is more interested in shadows and bubbles, than in substance and clear headed engagement with the Boko Haram ideology. May God help Nigeria,” Salkida said in his six page tweet. Speaking in similar vein, Barrister Zannah, the founder of Future Prowess Islamic School for children orphaned by the Boko Haram insurgency, who is also an authority when it comes to Boko Haram analysis, insisted that though the declaration was what every Borno person had been longing for, the package was too fantastic to be true. “If that is true, then everybody in Borno needs to celebrate because that is what we all yearn to get. But I don’t want to believe this declaration that a ceasefire has been reached because there has to be a framework of engagement between the two parties involved. I can recall that Shekau once came out to say that his group would want to swap their colleagues in the prisons with the Chibok girls; that much I heard him say. But I don’t know if such has been considered on the side of the government. “However, now that we all woke up to hear the news that a ceasefire has been agreed upon, we are all happy but some of us with discerning minds still believe that it takes two to tango. We don’t know how they may have come about the ceasefire because to the best of our knowledge, for once, they did not even sit together for any form of dialogue that we know of,” he added. The humanitarian worker added that for the federal government and the military to be taken seriously by Nigerians, they have to provide copious evidence of interface with the Boko Haram representatives and not a unilateral declaration. “There is doubt because there has never been a time in the life of the Boko Haram leaders that we heard them lamenting loss of members or admitting the magnitude of pains they have suffered. If Shekau ever spoke, his message was all about the doctrines of his group and what they stand for. He would emphasise that dying in the course of what they are doing is a thing of pride to them. But the problem is that we don’t even learn from history; if we are to follow the trend of these kind of announcements, right from the time of Abu Kaka (the erstwhile spokesman of Boko Haram), there wasn’t a time where any persons speaking on behalf of the Boko Haram, be it Shekau or any other Amir would come and talk without reciting some verses of the holy Quran first. But here we have one coming out to say he is the Secretary of the group and they have decided to ceasefire. It is really difficult to believe; but we all hope for a true ceasefire, anyway,” he added. Meanwhile, military sources yesterday confided in LEADERSHIP Weekend that the ceasefire agreement as announced yesterday in Abuja by the Chief of Defence Staff, was influenced by President of Chad, Idris Deby and former Borno State Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff. According to security sources, the ceasefire was the outcome of the meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and his Chadian counterpart, Idris Deby “who is regarded as a mentor to most of the terrorists.” “When President Jonathan was informed about the relationship between Deby and the Boko Haram sect members,” according to one of the security sources, “he was asking for who could link him with the President of Chad and that was how Senator Alimodu Sheriff who also has Chadian citizenship came into the picture. Sheriff and Deby are good friends as he (Sheriff) helped him (Deby) in his struggle to become the President. Sheriff was instrumental to the dialogue and at the meeting, the Chadian President agreed to midwife the agreement and that was how the deal was struck.” Speaking further, the source who preferred anonymity because of the sensate nature of the issue, said, “President Jonathan strongly believes that no sacrifice is too much to restore peace and sanity to the Northeast and when he was told Deby could help that was why he went. Unfortunately, the late Shekau was not forthcoming with the dialogue until he was killed in Konduga. Shortly after, the fight by the terrorists lost steam and members were surrendering to the troops in hundreds and that was when Deby made contact again and the pact was struck.” LEADERSHIP Weekend recalls that President Jonathan was in Chad recently, where he had talks on security issues with the president of that country. The president was pictured with Sheriff, sparking outrage in the country. Another source who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said though the details of the agreement between the federal government and the insurgents were still sketchy, he had it on good authority that “they want their members in detention released, they don’t want any of them prosecuted and they said if the deal was accepted, they would release every abducted Chibok girl and other people in their custody.” Our source regretted that “the terrorists have now agreed to dialogue after killing some of our good hands while their own are being detained and well fed.” Reacting to the news of the ceasefire, Members of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign said in a tweet on Friday, “we are monitoring the news with huge expectations.” Also in its reaction yesterday, northern socio-political group, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), described the news of the ceasefire as a welcome development. “The announcement that the Nigerian Government and the Boko Haram sect have agreed to a truce is a welcome development considering the huge lost of innocent lives and properties destroyed while the insurgency last. It also demonstrates the wisdom of our earlier call for dialogue with the sect as a viable counter terrorism strategy. In order to demonstrate the sincerity of this ceasefire agreement by Government and the Boko Haram insurgents, ACF and indeed all Nigerians would want to see the process of returning all seized territories of Nigeria by the Boko Haram and the restoration of normalcy in all affected areas implemented as soon as possible. Furthermore, all displaced persons in the rehabilitation camps should be encouraged and assisted to return to their homes. “In the case of the kidnapped Chibok girls, it is heartwarming to hear that they are safe and in good health. ACF urges that the process of their release from captivity should be fast tracked in order to gladden the hearts of their parents and all Nigerians that have been in terrible anxiety and trauma over their safety and state of health,” ACF national publicity secretary, Muhammad Ibrahim, said in a statement.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 04:24:20 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015