Finally, Boko Haram has accepted government’s offer for talks. In the past week, government officials have engaged the sect in indirect peace talks through persons chosen by its leader, Abubakar Shekau.
The peace talks is coming nearly two months after President Jonathan had asked the group to identify themselves, accept dialogue and state what their grievances were as a basis for dialogue.
Though they may not have met Jonathan’s conditions, the increased loss of innocent lives and growing criticism over government’s efforts in seeking an end to the sect’s killings may have moved government to negotiate. Although it has made notable impact of recent in curtailing the group’s activities and rounding up alleged culprits, many are not convinced that government has done enough in dealing with the nation’s growing threats. Those who do not appreciate the complexity of the issue, accuse Jonathan of sluggishness in engaging the terrorists. They believe that government has not responded as swiftly as it should in protecting the citizenry from the activities of Boko Haram.
While these points are important factors to consider in assessing public opinion on how well government has engaged the sect, it must be understood, however, that government’s duty to exercise restraint from open retaliation against suicide attacks. Anyone who understands the nature of this type of issue knows that in the event of retaliation, chances are high that other innocent citizens may be caught in the cross-fire. There is no doubt that the complexity of the issue has hindered security agencies from responding effectively, and the government from articulating a credible strategy towards halting the sect.
Others have also tried to draw parallels between the sect’s activities and that of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) before government’s amnesty programme. That will be missing the point, however. While Nigeria has had to grapple with security challenges from MEND that border on terrorism, the group’s stated points of agitation were never in doubt. Unlike the challenge posed by MEND and others that have existed before it, Boko Haram as an extremist group has proved to be totally different. Its acts in the name of religion and ethnic identity are the most threatening, and extremely difficult to counter. The sect has not made any apologies about its probable links with al-Qaida, the global leader in employing religion to recruit membership and drive its ideals. Reports the sect members have had training and received explosives and weapons from al-Qaida’s North African wing, in furtherance of its objectives of visiting bloodshed on hapless people in its delusion of Islamizing Nigeria, are worrying, to say the least.
As far as Nigeria’s security problems are concerned, Boko Haram has proved to be profoundly more challenging, complicated more by its tendency to use religion to evoke extreme passion among faithful. Today, the fact is that the sect enjoys the sympathy of several top members of the Nigerian society and government. Apart from the few key figures celebrated in the media as its leaders, the sect’s real membership today are very many and number among those in various cadres of governmental authority. The contrived escape of Kabiru Sokoto, a suspect in the Christmas day bombings that killed over 39 persons is an indication that Boko Haram’s religious pull has won converts to its ideals even among law enforcement agents. The belief is that the escape of the key suspect in that heinous crime was contrived to cover the trail of those sponsoring Boko Haram.
As the dialogue commences, the public may not be privy to the major issues in contention. However, it is pertinent to ask, what really is the sect’s grudge? Beyond the initial grudge of avenging the death of the group’s founder Mohammed Yusuf, whom his followers allege was extra-judicially murdered by the police; the group has advocated the introduction of Shariah law in the Northern part of the country. While this strong Islamic rhetoric has polarized the secular Nigerian public, it is becoming increasingly obvious that they harbour a more sinister plot to dismember Nigeria as an entity. To this end, a large number of their attacks which have since 2009 claimed about 950 lives, are targeted mainly at Christians in the bid to instigate national crisis.
With the citizenry frightened by its brazen assaults, the fanatical Islamic sect founded in 2002, got bolder and more brazen in its operations. In their blind ambition to cause mayhem, even their Muslim brothers and sisters are not spared, as exemplified from the senseless killing in Kano. While the sect has targeted Christian places of worship, like the Christmas bombing at the St. Theresa’s Catholic Church in Madalla, it has not distinguished its targets strictly along religious lines. For instance, within a week in January, about 200 innocent Nigerians –mostly Muslim -were killed in Kano, Nigeria’s second-largest city; a police station was also overrun.
The first fruit of the mediated dialogue is the conditional ceasefire offered by the sect, though on near-impossible terms. The group says it is prepared to temporarily lay down arms on two conditions: that all its members in captivity are released from prison; and secondly, that the Federal Government guarantees the safety and security of all its members whose names would be given to them. The major intermediaries in the discreet arrangement are Dr Datti Ahmed, President of Supreme Council of Sharia of Nigeria, who has since repudiated his own mediation effort; and Shettima Ali Monguno, leader of Borno Elders and Leaders of Thought. No doubt, President Jonathan is reluctant to engage criminals, directly or indirectly, in talks of whatever name. No government worth the name will choose to interface in whatever way, with a group that undermines its very essence of protecting its citizens’ lives. In Nigeria, however, it has become exigent in this case, as it has become a price we must pay for peace.
However, on the twin issues of Nigerian unity and renunciation of violence as a means of reaching any political end, there must never be a shift. It is bad enough that a group that has terminated the lives of over a thousand Nigerians unlawfully -and has not made any apologies -is offered opportunity to dialogue with government. While Nigerians appreciate these efforts, it is important that we all make collective efforts to ensure the talks succeed. It is more important, however, that the blood of the victims would not have been shed in vain.
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