Tag: Anxiety

Parents, community, activists, others doubt deal

Talks today in Chad

My heart tells me to keep my fingers crossed and be prayerful, but my head tells me to just wave it away. —Chibok community leader

If the ceasefire was real, it will be a good omen for the nation…But we should be wary of false ceasefire.—Rights activist Shehu Sani

Doubts swept through the Chibok community yesterday over the ceasefire and imminent release of the abducted schoolgirls announced by the government at the weekend.

Some parents of the girls in captivity, the Bringbackthegirls campaigners, Borno State Senator Ahmed Zannah, rights activist Shehu Sani, among others, have at best expressed cautious optimism.

Doubts over the ceasefire  were strengthened by the weekend’s attacks believed to be by the sect in Borno State. Many were killed.

Going by the terms of the said agreement, the meeting will continue today in Chad after which some of the leaders of the sect in detention will be swapped for the Chibok girls, this week.

One of the elders of the Abuja Chibok community, Dr. Dauda Iliya questioned the truthfulness of the truce because of the weekend’s attacks.

Iliya, a representative of the Abuja Chibok community, said he would like to believe the truce but his head told him to dismiss it.

“My heart tells me to keep my fingers crossed and be prayerful, but my head tells me to just wave it away and to dismiss it like I know the government to tell bull’s stories.

“I simply think the government is playing Nigerians for two reasons:  One, I have received reports that two very well-known villages in southern Borno,  one in Hawul in the village of shaffa was attacked and many people killed between Friday and Saturday.

“Two, the second village is Lassa in Askira/Gwuba Local Government. It was also attacked between Friday night and Saturday. I think,  Kana Local government,  so with this,  why will Boko Haram be attacking villages,  killing people and destroying houses if indeed there was a truce that is number one.

“Number two; why should the government be the one announcing the truce,  when it is the government and its army that are under attack?  I think it is the people attacking that should be announcing any kind of truce.”

The leader of the #BringBackOurGirls advocacy, Aisha Yusufu, said: “We are hopeful, waiting and really anxious. We are just surprised that a ceasefire has supposedly been reached and people are still been killed.  Who are they having this ceasefire with if the Boko Haram doesn’t even know that there is an ongoing ceasefire?

“For me I don’t want to lay allegations; all I want to say is that what we Nigerians want from the government is the truth, nothing but the truth. It is high time that the Nigerian government came out, to tell the people the truth, no matter how bitter it is and then we know what to do.

“Let them tell us the truth as a nation and then collectively we know how to sort it out together,  but just lying about it or trying to politicise it will not work for us as a nation. We are hopefully waiting for Tuesday when they said that the girls could possibly be released.

“We honestly want this to end and the girls back so that we can begin to rehabilitate them.”

Former Education Minister Oby Ezekwesili, whose “Bring back our girls” campaign has highlighted daily protests in Abuja, told Reuters she was “cautiously optimistic”, but “extremely anxious, not knowing what the details of this ceasefire really are. If it happens, it would be the best news in decades”.

“We were jubilating. We had every reason to be happy … but since then the ceasefire has been broken in quite a number of places already,” Lawan Abana, a parent of the one of the missing girls, told Reuters by telephone.

He added that there were doubts about the credentials of the reported Boko Haram negotiator, Danladi Ahmadu, who was unheard of before. “Can we trust him that he can deliver on this promise of releasing the girls when he has not delivered on the promise of the ceasefire?” Abana said.

Senator Ahmed Zannah (Borno Central) advised the Federal Government to tread with caution in implementing any ceasefire agreement with the insurgents.

Zannah told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri that the Federal Government must exercise wisdom and discretion in dealing with the issue.

He expressed doubt about the sincerity of Boko Haram on the ceasefire.

He said: “I do not think it is true, because the Boko Haram insurgents are still attacking communities in Borno.

“The insurgents attacked villages in both Northern and Southern Borno on Saturday.’’

Zannah said if the ceasefire was real and sincere, the insurgents would not have attacked the villages.

The government said the attacks may not have been Boko Haram but one of several criminal groups exploiting the chaos of its insurgency.

“Boko Haram is deeply fractured. The Nigerian government has had a … difficult time identifying a Boko Haram representative who could make compromises and guarantee the entire group will observe them,” risk consultancy Stratfor said in a note.

“It is quite possible that Abuja has reached an agreement with a legitimate representative of a specific cell … that holds the kidnapped schoolgirls captive,” it said at the weekend.

Ahmed Salkida, a Nigerian journalist who was once close to Boko Haram and shared a jail cell with its founder Mohammed Yusuf in 2009, tweeted that whoever Ahmadu is, he is not a member of Boko Haram’s senior “Shura council” nor does “he speak for them, as far as I know”.

“It’s interesting the timing comes as Jonathan is about to announce he wants to run for a second term. Is it by sheer coincidence?” All Progressives Congress (APC) spokesman Alhaji Lai Mohammed said by telephone.

The President, Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria, Comrade Shehu Sani, yesterday said there had been cautious optimism on the ceasefire.

He said the patterns of the ceasefire were not in line with the mode of operation of the sect, adding that only the leader of the group, Abubakar Shekau, could order the release of the Chibok girls.

He, however, said it would be a good omen for the nation if the ceasefire was real.

Sani, who is one of the facilitators of dialogue with the sect, bared his mind on the ceasefire in  a chat with our correspondent.

He said: “There were a lot of doubts about the ceasefire because this is not the first time. In 2012, one Abdulaziz, who claimed to be speaking on behalf of the sect,  declared ceasefire five times. A minister  confirmed that Abdulaziz was representing the group.

“In 2013,  Mohammed Marwana also spoke on behalf of the sect and declared a ceasefire which never held.

“In 2014, Danladi Ahmadu claimed to have negotiated a ceasefire. But the sect is saying that Danladi is a name that is unknown to the group.

“This is not the style of the sect. All the precepts or prayers of the sect were also not part of Danladi’s speech.

“Contrary to what Danladi said, members of the Ahlul Sunna Li Daawa Wal Jihad do not refer to themselves as Boko Haram. Such a name is alien to the group.

Responding to a question, Sani added: “From our own experience in negotiating with this group, they had insisted on the total release of their men as a precondition for the release of the Chibok girls and ceasefire.

“The group will not put ceasefire first before negotiating other terms. I do not think so.

“So, the so-called talks in Chad were very doubtful. The Federal Government should beware of raising false hopes to achieve political advantage or boost the morale of the military and security agencies.”

Sani said it was still possible to get the Chibok girls out of captivity through dialogue.

“If the ceasefire was real, it will be a good omen for the nation because we want peace in the country; we want to put the insurgency behind us. But we should be wary of false ceasefire like the cases we had in the past.”

Adamawa State indigenes under the aegis of Save Adamawa Communities from Terrorists (SACT) also yesterday expressed doubt about the ceasefire. It said the terrorists might be re-strategising.

The group said in a statement issued in Kaduna at the weekend that the sect might have suffered heavily in the hands of the military and wanted to use the ceasefire to acquire more arms for deadlier attacks.

The statement signed by its chairman, Mr. Josiah Garba, recalled the invasion and destruction of nine villages in Hong Local Government Area of Adamawa State and called on the Federal Government to allow people in communities being terrorised by terrorists to carry arms to defend themselves.

The villages are  Zah, Mubang, Kingin,  Kopre, Buwarya,  Pana, Larh and  Garha.

Garba added that the attacks had been going on since April without anyone confronting the terrorists, adding that the latest attack was in Garha where houses, including the biggest church in the area, were destroyed while many people were killed.

“These attacks have been going on for too long without the security agents coming to our aid. Whenever we call the soldiers to tell them of what is happening in our communities, they don’t come until after the terrorists had finished their operations then they will come just to see the destruction and the bodies.

“The terrorist normally come in broad daylight and when they come, the villagers will start running for their dear lives. Those who are unlucky are killed, houses are burnt while young boys and girls are captured and taken away.

“Unfortunately, people who are supposed to draw attention to our plight are not saying anything about this ugly situation.

“We have our representative in the House of Representatives, Hon. Francis Haske Hananiya representing Hong/Gombi Federal Constituency but he has never drawn attention to our predicament before the floor of the house. Even our representative in the House of Assembly, Aminu Iya Abas, has never mentioned these attacks on the floor of the Adamawa State House of Assembly.

“As far as we, concerned, the government has just left us at the mercy of Boko Haram and it is very unfortunate. We and our property deserve to be protected by the government.

“If the government is not ready to protect us, we should be allowed to carry arms and confront the Boko Haram. The unfortunate thing is that if you are found with a small knife, you are treated as a criminal, but they allow Boko Haram to be moving around with sophisticated weapons, killing people and destroying our property.

“This is nonsense, if the government is not willing or is failing in its responsibility of protecting the citizenry, we should be allowed to carry arms so that we can defend ourselves.

“Many people don’t know where their wives or their children are. That is the situation here. Everything is completely destroyed. Up till this moment, no relief material has been sent to displace people who were chased out of the homes without taking any of their belongings.

“We are very skeptical about this so called ceasefire and we call on the government not to be deceived by the terrorist as this may be a ploy for them to acquire more arms for further attacks. Government should take adequate steps to secure our communities” the statement added.