The Federal Government may have commenced
considering the criteria for compensating members of the violent Islamic sect,
Boko Haram, particularly those who had suffered one form of injustice or the
other.
Also there were indications on Sunday that the
government might be willing to pay compensation to the sect’s
members “who were seen to have been killed unjustly.”
A very dependable source in the Presidency told The
PUNCH on Sunday that the Federal Government was not willing to miss
the opportunity for dialogue as offered by a man believed to be the sect’s
second-in-command, Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulaziz.
For this reason, he said, the government
was willing to pay compensation, otherwise known as Diyya, to halt attacks by
the sect.
He said, “I can confirm to you that it is true
that the group is currently dialoguing with the government. The good news is
that they are talking and they have promised to cease fire once some of their
demands are met.
“For conditions that are not difficult to meet
such as the demand for Diyya for their 24 identified members that were killed,
the government may meet such demands.
“Government can also give critical thought to
those found to be innocent, but are being detained or prosecuted, particularly
women and children as demanded by the group since they do not have any
objection to the trial of those genuinely involved in crime.”
It was, however, learnt that the government might
not reach out to former Head of State, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, to head the
team that would dialogue with Boko Haram, as requested by the sect.
The sect had on Thursday expressed its desire to
ceasefire and enter into dialogue with the government but demanded that Buhari
should lead the discussion that must be held in Saudi Arabia.
But the Congress for Progressive Change had
already said that Buhari, who is the national leader of the party, had nothing
to do with members of the sect.
Our source said, “He (Buhari) is a former
Head of State and he has people who speak for him. It has been widely reported
that he would not take the offer, so why will government reach out to him?”
The same source had in August told one of our
correspondents that government might accede to the sect’s demand for the
payment of compensation or Diyya to Boko Haram members considered
“killed unjustly” by security forces.
This formed an August 19, 2012 exclusive report
published by SUNDAY PUNCH.
In the report, the sect was said to have
identified about 24 of such members whom it claimed were killed unjustly.
One of them was the leader of Boko Haram,
Mohammed Yusuf, who was killed in 2010 in Maiduguri, after he had been
reportedly captured alive by soldiers.
Yusuf was then handed over to the police, under
whose custody, he died mysteriously.
The PUNCH learnt that the sect had put
the compensation to the family of the 24 deceased members at N2m each.
Consequently, for the 24 families, the Diyya to
be paid is N48m.
Apart from compensation, the sect is also
pressing for the release of those unjustly detained.
Shortly after the sect rolled out its conditions
for ceasefire on Thursday, the Presidency described it as a welcome
development, “if it was intended to achieve the objectives of peace and security.”
Meanwhile, one of the people named by Boko Haram
as mediators, Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim, said on Sunday that neither the
Federal Government nor the sect had reached out to him over the proposed peace
talks between the two parties.
The senator, however, refused to answer the
question on whether he would be willing to play a mediatory role if invited by
any of the parties or not.
The former governor said, “I have not been
contacted by anybody, either from the Federal Government side or Boko Haram.
“What you have been hearing on radio or on
televisions is false, thank you.”
Ibrahim is among the six mediators named by
the sect on Thursday that would represent it in the proposed negotiation with
the Federal Government
Others are a former Yobe State Governor, Shettima
Ali Monguno; Ambassador Gaji Galtimari , Hajia Aisha Wakili and her husband,
Alkali Wakili.
The group also gave a condition that the
discussion with the government must take place in Saudi Arabia .
Ibrahim, who represents Yobe Central in the Senate,
had been outspoken on issues of marginalisation of the North-East, saying that
the situation had resulted in the heightened insecurity problem in the region.
Only last week, he denied predicting a situation
“bigger than Boko Haram” after newspapers quoted him as justifying the sect’s
insurgency as a result of long period of neglect of the North-East.
Meanwhile, Boko Haram on Sunday denied
allegations that it was behind the killing of Maj-Gen. Mamman Shuwa and other
politicians in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
Shuwa was gunned down on Friday in his house at
Gwange in Maiduguri along with his guests shortly before the Juma’at prayer,
and the Joint Task Force in a statement said the killers were members of the
sect.
Forty other people were reportedly killed in a
bloodbath in another part of Maiduguri on Thursday night.
The Punch
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