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Tag: boko haram

  • Boko Haram: Buhari lauds amnesty committee

    Boko Haram: Buhari lauds amnesty committee

    The National leader of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Major General Mohammadu Buhari, on Wednesday said Nigerians should embrace whatever would bring peace to the country, including amnesty if granted to the Islamic militant sect, Boko haram.

    Buhari who  was the CPC’s Presidential candidate in the last general election, said it was  good  that the Federal Government had set up a Committee to look into all requests for Amnesty for members Boko Haram sect, whose insurgency in parts of the north have left thousands of  persons dead and scores of others gravely injured.

    Speaking with reporters at the Presidential Lodge, Abeokuta,  Buhari said he does not yet know the terms of reference of the Amnesty Committee but noted that if amnesty is granted to the group, it will be similar to what Late President Umaru Musa Yar’ Ardua did for  the Niger Delta militants .

    “Yes, it is good they have set up a committee and I haven’t seen the terms of reference but it right thing to do but this is not the first time amnesty will be given to …  what shall I call them, a violent group, remember what happened with Alh. Musa Yar’Adua and the militants, so this not the first time. Whatever that will bring peace to the society, we should do it,”  Buhari stated.

    The former military Head of States was accompanied to Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital by National Chairman of the Party, Chief Tony Momoh, former Speaker, House of Representatives, Alh. Aminu – Bello Masari, National Publicity Secretary, Engr. Rotimi Fashakin, Southwest Chairman of CPC, Mr Razaq Muse, Lagos State Chairman, Emibata Ajibade and Buhari’s running mate, Pastor Tunde Bakare.

    He explained  that he was in Ogun State  to visit the matriarch of the Awolowo family, Chief (Mrs) Hannah Idowu Dideolu(HID) Awolowo and s=commiserate with her over the death of Evangelist, Oluwole Awolowo after which he proceeded to the Ijebu – Ode Palace of the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, on courtesy visit.

    “I was in Ikene to commiserate with  the Awolowo family and I also drove to see the Awujale of Ijebuland. I came here in Abeokuta to greet the mother of my friend, and colleague, Pastor Tunde Bakare.  I went and greeted his mother. In the morning I will drive to Ekiti State and condole and commiserate with them on the death of their Deputy Governor. This is the purpose of my visit.”

  • Boko Haram victims seek compensation

    Boko Haram victims seek compensation

    Christians in the North have set a precondition for amnesty for Boko Haram members. Victims of the sect’s violence must be compensated, the Northern Christians Forum (NCF) said yesterday.

    Also demanding compensation is the pan-Igbo socio-political organisation, Ohaneze Ndigbo, which lost many of its members.

    According to the NCF, Christians became targets of the sect’s mayhem for supporting the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The NCF described the amnesty offer as “wickedness”, if “nobody is talking about compensation for the innocent people who have been affected”.

    It said: “The Northern Christians Forum has been marginalised; deliberately underdeveloped; treated like vassals; seriously brutalised; and slaughtered under the watchful eyes of this regime more than in any other regime before.”

    A statement issued in Abuja by the NCF Chairman, Evangelist Matthew Owojaiye, said: “Government spent billions of naira on nomadic education, N5 billion on almajiri schools, which is specifically for Muslims, while Christian schools and hospitals taken over by the government without compensation are still being held tight by the government.

    “Boko Haram has tried to annihilate us and our Igbo Christian brothers and now the government is talking about granting the sect amnesty without saying a word about the people they bombed, slaughtered and traumatised.

    “Who underdeveloped the Muslim North? It is definitely not the Jonathan government. Neither the Christians in the North! It is the Northern Muslim elite that impoverished the Northern Muslim youth.

    “The Northern Muslim elite pocketed the largesse that came to the North. Only they and their families benefited. They turned the attention of Boko Haram to the innocent Christians in the North.

    “It is even more annoying that instead of the Northern Muslim elite releasing 50 per cent of their wealth to solve the poverty problem of the Muslims in the North, they are crying and putting pressure and intimidating the Federal Government to set up a Boko Haram commission.

    “It is wickedness! Since the post-election violence, thousands of Christians have been killed or maimed; thousands of Christian businesses have been ruined; and hundreds of Churches destroyed or closed down for supporting the Jonathan administration.

    “Contemplating granting amnesty to the people who have wrought wanton destruction of lives and properties in this nation is a call to other interest groups to rise up in arms against their fatherland, in order to be blessed when such an action should be treated as treason! Till date the killing continues!

    Intimidating the Federal Government to grant amnesty is the highest display of hypocrisy and lack of patriotism. Are such people not indirectly admitting that they are the shadows or ghosts behind the Boko Haram?

    “We totally object to even discussing amnesty when nothing has been done for the victims of the Boko Haram.

    “Let all who collude or sponsor Boko Haram or refuse to come to the help of Christians for political or economical reasons know that heaven is watching and nobody will go free! The blood of the Christian martyrs is crying to haven for justice.

    “Rev. 6:9-10 says that ‘When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.

    ‘And they cried with a loud voice, saying, how long, o Lord, Holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’

    “We totally object to Paul Unongo and his friends speaking on behalf of the Christians, challenging the authority of the Christian Association (CAN) President. The Christians in Nigeria know their leaders. Definitely their teams are not among our leaders.

    “Northern Minority Commission is overdue. Do we need to take up arms before our plight comes before government?

    “The return of all schools and hospitals taken from the Christians and compensation paid for ruining them; release of N5 billion for Christian schools as done to muslims; henceforth, equal amount must be allocated to us as given to them yearly; and the setting up of Northern minority commission and a minister to be in charge.”

    Ohaneze Ndigbo supported yesterday Federal Government’s decision to consider amnesty for Boko Haram (Western education is a sin).

    The leadership of the group, which dropped the hint in Kano, said amnesty should be granted to the sect if the action would address the insurgency ravaging the North.

    But it demanded compensation for victims of the Kano New Road Motor Park bomb attack on Lagos-bound luxury buses.

    Led by its President, Chief Carry Nnachi, the group was on a condolence visit to Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwanso over the March 18 attack .

    But their host said the Kano Motor Park bombing that claimed more than 30 lives was not targeted at any ethnic group.

    The governor described the tragic incident as simply terror, which has no borders.

    The Ohaneze team also commiserated with the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero and the Igbo community in Kano.

    Nnachi described the attack as “vicious, unfortunate and irresponsible”, which must be condemned by all peace-loving Nigerians.

    He said: “The Ohanaeze Ndigbo supports all that can bring peace to the country. We support whatever efforts put together to restore peace and unity in the country.

    “We want Kano to continue to be in peace. Therefore, we must avoid tendencies that are inimical to this project by weighing our actions so that we can sustain our corporate existence as a people.

    “What has happened has happened. Therefore, we should all put it behind us and move forward.”

    The Ohaneze president stressed the need for the victims to be compensated.

    Speaking through his Commissioner for State Affairs, Abdulsalam Aminu Gwarzo, Kwankwaso noted that the nation has been passing through a trying period.

    He urged people to be cautious of their utterances, pointing out that the victims of the New Road Motor Park attack cut across all the ethnic and religious divides. The government has been doing everything within its power to tackle the security challenges.

  • ‘Amnesty not answer to Boko Haram’

    ‘Amnesty not answer to Boko Haram’

    Human rights activist and lawyer Dr Tunji Abayomi has opposed the proposed amnesty for the members of the Boko Haram sect, saying that they are terrorists.

    He advised the Northern leaders to secure the assurance of peace from the sect members before negotiating for amnesty.

    Abayomi declared in a statement in Lagos that amnesty is not the solution to terrorism in the North.

    He said: “Let the leaders of the North do the negotiation; let them secure the assurance of peace from their children. Let them do what is needful for the North. Let them do something new for Nigeria”.

    The rights activist supported President Goodluck Jonathan’s refusal to grant amnesty to the group on the group that its members are invisible.

    Abayomi maintained that Nigerians must not surrender their liberty to the killers.

    He stressed: “I agree with President Goodluck Jonathan, but for a different reason. I am against amnesty, not because Boko Haram is invisible. To the contrary, Boko Haram is very visible in the bombed United Nations (UN) House and the international workers that died, in the thousands of Nigerians already murdered in cold blood, in the churches that have been burnt with helpless worshipers, and in the schools senselessly razed down.

    “It is very visible in the many that are terminally wounded in this one–way unprovoked war declared on us. It is visible in the amputees, in the young children and the foetus in the womb who are denied the right to life. It is visible in the horrible reputation imposed on our nation. Boko Haram is very visible in the shattered buses and bodies of Kano.

    “It is not because Boko Haram is invisible that am against amnesty. It is for the simple reason that we must not as a people or as a nation surrender our liberty to mass murderers”.

    Abayomi challenged the pro-amnesty campaigners to explain the grievances of the sect members for the purpose of defining their focus.

    He said: “Those calling for amnesty should tell us what Boko Haram wants so that we can find a subject matter upon which negotiation can be erected.

    “They should tell us what to negotiate with the extremists whose principle is to murder innocent citizens in cold blood simply because they belong, not to their religion, which they disrespectfully misunderstand and misapply”.

    Abayomi disagreed with those who claimed that the Boko Haram menace was due to poverty. He challenged such people to point to any state or region in the country that is not ravaged by poverty.

    He added: “Is there any part of this nation that knows no poverty? Must we wage war on life to conquer poverty? Those who are genuinely poor don’t manufacture bombs. They don’t carry AK – 47. They don’t boast of evil on the internet. They don’t cut people’s throat while desecrating the Koran by reading it in support of cold blooded murder. Poor people that I know in the North and all over Nigeria don’t maim the poor. What they do is to work in pursuit of freedom from poverty like the ones that helped my mother to give me education. Poverty cannot justify the choice of evil.”

     

  • Fed Govt, Boko Haram to resume talks

    Fed Govt, Boko Haram to resume talks

    The Islamic sect, Boko Haram, seems set to resume peace talks with the federal government after months of a stalemate, The Nation has gathered.

    The talks are expected to facilitate the proposed amnesty for members of the sect.

    A reliable source familiar with the development said the decision to discuss with the federal government followed an appeal to the group by northern elders to embrace President Goodluck Jonathan’s amnesty offer.

    The Nation also learnt that the federal government is willing to discuss with the sect.

    “In fact, the government has encouraged all efforts to facilitate the talks. Specifically, the government has saddled a group of northern elders with the responsibility of bringing the militants to the table once again,” our source said.

    “The latest decision by the sect to dialogue with the federal government is hinged on the planned amnesty offer. The last time the sect embraced dialogue was about seven months ago when it gave a group led by Sambo Dasuki, the National Security Adviser, its listening ear.

    “That process failed because the group felt the government was insincere. This time, following an appeal by northern elders to it to embrace the amnesty offer in the interest of peace, Boko Haram is willing to discuss the modalities of the offer with the federal government.

    “The government is willing to discuss with them and has saddled some northern elders who are in touch with the leadership of the sect with the responsibility of ensuring that talks resume as soon as possible.

    “Given the current situation of things and the willingness of both parties to dialogue, talks between federal government and Boko Haram may kick off in a matter of days.”

    However, The Nation learnt the sect is coming back to the negotiation table on conditions, one of which is that it will choose the venue of the talks.

    “The sect wants to be allowed to choose the venue of the talks as a condition for its participation. It is also demanding that the federal government delegation must be made up of prominent northerners. Another demand by the group is that agreements at the talks must be kept away from the public until the end of the process.

    “I think the sect is just trying to take precautionary measures with these demands. In choosing the venue, the militants are being careful. By demanding for respectable northerners on the federal government delegation, they merely want to have people to hold responsible if government reneges on its promises after the talks.”

     

    Efforts to get an official position from the Presidency on the planned resumption of talks with Boko Haram proved abortive as calls made to their phone numbers of Mr. Ahmed Gulak, Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters went unanswered. Text messages sent to him were also unanswered at press time.

    However, a Presidency source told The Nation that the Presidency is aware of efforts being made by a group of northern governors to bring the Islamic militants to the negotiation table.

    “I suspect that the said resumption of talks is as a result of the efforts of some northern governors. They have been discussing with the sect for a while now. Maybe this is the outcome of their labour. If the militants are ready to talk, I can say without fear of any contradiction that the President is open to the idea especially now that he is offering them amnesty,” he said.

  • Boko Haram amnesty act of wickedness, says Oritsejafor

    Boko Haram amnesty act of wickedness, says Oritsejafor

    • Northern Govs demand expansion of committee

    • FG, sect talks set to resume

     

    The President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, said yesterday that the planned amnesty for members of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, by the Federal Government amounts to an act of wickedness.

    He wondered how government could be talking of amnesty for the fundamentalists without any thought for the welfare of victims of their insurgency.

    But the Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) is in full support of the planned amnesty and wants the committee set up by the Federal Government to work out the modalities expanded to include ‘critical stakeholders.’

    Speaking as a special guest at the 80th birthday of the President, Apostolic Church of Nigeria, Pastor Gabriel Olutola, in Lagos, yesterday, Pastor Oritsejafor advised the federal government to first consider the welfare of victims of Boko Haram insurgence and ensure that Boko Haram embraces peace before considering amnesty for it.

    The CAN president faulted the circumstance surrounding the setting up of the amnesty committee.

    He said: “I don’t know if the president has actually set up a committee. It is still a rumour to me. But if he has, I think that is a bit dangerous because some of us are stakeholders. I think it is important to consult with all those who ought to know so that they can share their own opinion and also be able to speak on what amnesty is all about.”

    He also spoke on the much speculated second term ambition of President Jonathan.

    He said: “Well, I don’t know about his (Jonathan) second term ambition because I am not a politician. I am a pastor. But that would be wicked. I don’t see why he would have to consider that, because we are facing a very serious situation in Nigeria.

    “I don’t see why he would have to do that (grant amnesty). Let us not turn this situation into politics. Let’s face it for what it is. The security of the people is the number one responsibility of the president. And I think at this point, Jonathan must wake up and just face it and do what he has to do. But these people who are putting pressure on him left and right, may God help them and deliver Nigeria from their hands.”

    Stressing that CAN is not in any way opposed to amnesty, Oritsejafor, stressed: “When you talk of amnesty, you are also talking about forgiveness. But if you read Luke 15, the Bible is talking about the prodigal son and in verses 17 and 18, the Bible says, ‘when he came to himself.’ In other words, he realised that what he had done was wrong.

    “But the people we are dealing with, do they accept that what they are doing is wrong? When he (the prodigal son realised it, then he came to his father to ask for forgiveness.”

    Reacting to a call by former First Lady, Turai Yar’Adua, that President Jonathan should extend the same gesture her late husband granted the Niger Delta militants, Oritsejafor said, “Comments like this show that those who hold those views either don’t know or pretend not to know what is really happening. If they don’t know, they should meet those who know.”

    Oritsejafor said it was wrong to draw a parallel between the Niger Delta and the Boko Haram situations. The Niger Delta militants, he explained, were identified by leaders of the area and agreed to lay down their arms within the period specified by the government before they were offered amnesty.

    “The leaders in the North, instead of talking and talking, they should go and identify these (Boko Haram) boys. Jonathan cannot do that. He doesn’t know where to go. That is why he must be careful the way he gets involved with some of these agitators,” he said.

    Going down the memory lane on how the Niger Delta militants were appeased, Oritsejafor said, “Amnesty did not just happen. What happened was that the leaders from the Niger Delta were able to identify the leaders of these militant groups. Yar’ Adua did not identify them. The leaders in the area identified them and brought them to Yar’ Adua and said ‘these are the boys.’

    “Jonathan himself was given the marching orders by Yar’ Adua. He came to the Niger Delta. Incidentally, I’m from that area-and some of us took him to the creeks. I went personally. He went with these boys, he talked with them. Yar’Adua now said, ‘you have three months to drop your arms. If you drop your arms, then we would start discussing amnesty or any other issue. But if you don’t, you will all be killed.’

    “People like Chief Edwin Clark and several others went into the creeks, discussed with the boys, convinced them and within the three months grace, most of them dropped their arms. That was what gradually gave birth to amnesty. So, what are we talking about now? That a committee would just come out and say ‘now there is amnesty.’ I don’t think that is what Jonathan wants. I would be surprised if that is what some of these Northern leaders themselves want.

    “I think we should be concerned about the victims. How are we going to take care of them? How are we going to compensate the people they left behind? What about the churches that have been burnt? There are so many unanswered questions that I am wondering why we are putting the cart before the horse.”

    The CAN leader also urged the government to intervene in the spate of attacks by Fulani herdsmen on several communities in the country.

    His words: “What we hear today about Fulani herdsmen is a very dangerous trend. Government and security agencies should look into it. Is there a connection between them and Boko Haram? The Fulani herdsmen we used to know went about with their sticks and guarded their herds.

    “But today, they are killing and maiming in places like Kaduna, Plateau, Ogun, Oyo, Cross River, Delta, Benue, Nasarawa and even inside Abuja. And now they are carrying AK47. Who are these people? Leaders of the Fulani community should look into this. Government should help us with these issues.”

    The Northern governors in expressing support for the planned amnesty yesterday said President Jonathan was on the right path.

    The Chairman of the forum and Governor of Niger State, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, in a statement through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Danladi Ndayebo said the move “underscores the resolve of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led government to restore peace in the region.”

    He said a peaceful atmosphere would reinvigorate the region’s development.

    It said: “The Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) encourages President Jonathan in his effort to find a lasting solution to the Boko Haram crisis, with the hope that members of the sect would make themselves available for dialogue.

    “The Forum calls for the expansion of the committee’s membership to include critical stakeholders in the region whose input would facilitate quick resolution of the crisis.

    “State Governors, traditional rulers, the clergy – Christian and Islamic – academics, retired military men, businessmen and former public officers should form part of the current effort at fashioning out strategies to address the disturbing state of insecurity and to proffer practical and enduring solutions to the insecurity in the region.”

    Recalling that the NSGF had, last year, inaugurated a 41-man peace committee headed by former Director General of the NIA, Ambassador Zakari Ibrahim whose membership cuts across people with diverse backgrounds, it said:”Although the committee is yet to submit report of its findings, its interface with some stakeholders in the troubled states in the North East is responsible for the progress so far made.”

    The governors spoke as Northern elders called for the establishment of a permanent amnesty commission to address the issue of pardon for deserving people from time to time.

    They have already sent their proposal to President Goodluck Jonathan, in black and white, according to a former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof Ango Abdullahi.

    The commission will be different from the committee constituted last week by President Goodluck Jonathan last week to work out modalities for granting amnesty to members of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram.

    Professor Abdullahi told the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) monitored in Kaduna that the proposed commission, expected to be backed by law, would be operating independent of government.

    He said: “We went with this advice in writing. Our thinking was that if the government felt it would be granting amnesty just like that, then there should be an independent body whose responsibility will be to set up how this amnesty will be granted, and also those affected will not be afraid to come out.

    “We suggested the establishment of an amnesty commission. A commission is different from a committee but I hope it is a step that will lead to the commission.

    “If a commission is established by law, it is independent and with honest individuals appointed to lead it, they will set up the process through which the desired objectives would be achieved.”

     

  • Northern leaders and amnesty for Boko Haram

    I want to believe that anything the north wants from the federal government they get it without much ado. During the voter registration in 1999, when it was programmed that the data should include religion, the north rejected it because they felt it will not favour them and the federal govt agreed with them.

    Every discerning Nigerian should now know that the northern politicians are the brain behind the Boko Haram insurgency. The northern leaders felt that too much money is going to the Niger Delta through 13 percent derivation and amnesty granted to the Niger Delta militants by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. The northern politicians thought of the ways to increase their earnings by floating Boko Haram sect with an agenda to forward their demand to the President during dialogue with the sect. Now that it seems that President Goodluck Jonathan is not favourably disposed to granting of amnesty to the sect as demanded by the northern politicians, you will not be surprised that the activities of Boko Haram will now extend to other states of the country in order to bring the federal government to its knee.

    During the presidential campaign in 2011, it was this same politicians who made a statement that should Goodluck Jonathan win they would make the country ungovernable for him. This is happening now. The President himself knows those who made that statement but when he became the President he failed to muster the will power to bring to book those who threatened the peace of the country during electioneering campaign.

    If the north had won the 2011 presidential election, Nigerians would not know anything like Boko Haram and we would have been saved from these incessant cold blooded murders.

     

    By Israel Oyegbile,

    Sabo Tasha, Kaduna

  • Cleric faults amnesty for Boko Haram

    A Christian leader and the founder of Centre for Righteous Living (CRIL) a faith- based non government organisation, Rev. Solomon Adegbolagun, has criticised proponents of amnesty for members of Boko Haram, the fundamentalist Islamic sect.

    Those calling or seeking amnesty for terrorists, he said, are insensitive to the victims of terror attacks across the nation.

    He said: “The call amounts to injustice where the poor suffer at all times from the hand of the rich. To ask for amnesty for terrorists is disappointing.”

    The cleric appealed to Nigerians to respect the sanctity of human life.

    Adegbolagun tasked the body of Christ to rise to the challenge of taking care of victims and relatives of Boko Haram attacks.

    According to him, “Since the government has failed and the nation cannot help, let the church rise and be their brothers’ keepers.”

  • Northern leaders call for Amnesty Commission

    Northern leaders are pushing for a legal backing to the granting of amnesty to aggrieved individuals who have taken up arms against the state in form of the establishment of an Amnesty Commission backed by law.

    The northern leaders have written to President Goodluck Jonathan on the need to set up such a commission which they said will be empowered to work out the process of granting amnesty in the country.
    Former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof Ango Abdullahi told the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) monitored in Kaduna that they have asked the government to establish an Amnesty Commission which will have the backing of law and operate independently in granting amnesty to members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect.
    He said that when the commission is established, men of integrity and honesty should be appointed into the Commission, adding that doing so will ensure that the desired objectives of granting amnesty to members of the sect members will be achieved.
    He said “we went with this advice in writing. Our thinking was that if the government felt it would be granting amnesty just like that, then there should be an authoritative body whose responsibility will be to set up how this amnesty will be granted, and also those affected will not be afraid to come out.
    “That was the reason we said so. We did not even asked for the setting up of a committee. We suggested for the establishment of an amnesty commission, a commission is different from a committee but I hope it is a step that will lead to the commission.
    “If a commission is established by law, it is independent and with honest individuals appointed to lead it, they will set up the process through which the desired objectives would be achieved,” he said.
    The former Presidential Adviser on Food Security however decline to comment on whether the northern elders pressured President Jonathan into granting amnesty to members of the sect, saying “I can’t say that, but perhaps those who were against it before realized that force cannot solve the problem.
    “Guns will not solve the problem, if all prisons will be full with those suspected, it won’t solve the problem. The only solution is to go back to the people, let them speak out their problems and grievances on the nation’s state of affairs. That’s how we can get a clue to the problem.”

     

    ENDS
  • Shema commends Jonathan over amnesty for Boko Haram

    Shema commends Jonathan over amnesty for Boko Haram

    Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State on Friday in Abuja saluted President Goodluck Jonathan’s courage in his current efforts to curb Boko Haram insurgency in the country.

    Shema, who was fielding questions from State House correspondents, urged all those aggrieved to lay down their arms and come forward in order to resolve the crisis.

    He commended the Federal Government for setting up a committee to look into requests for amnesty for members of the sect.

    “Many Nigerians, particularly leaders from the northern part of the country are yearning for a quick resolution of the crisis.

    “President Jonathan has responded positively to the requests for amnesty for members of the sect being advocated for by some leaders in the country in order to ensure peace, progress and development in all parts of the country.

    “My advice is that there is no nation that can progress without peace and stability. We need peace and all hands must be on deck.

    “Those who are aggrieved for one reason or the other should come forward and be able to resolve this crisis, such that our nation and our people can progress and develop rapidly,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the governor as saying to journalists.

    He said that he was of the belief that if a security committee was set up in good faith, it would be for the good of Nigeria and for the resolution to the crisis.

    “If a committee on amnesty is set up, it will be because Nigerians and leaders from the northern part of the country are yearning for a quick resolution to the matter.

    “And the President is responding positively to this request so that our nation can go on in peace, progress and development’’ Shema said.

    He also commended the efforts of the Northern Governors’ Forum in addressing the crisis, noting that the forum had set up a special committee on peace, healing and reconciliation.

    According to the governor, the committee has been working very hard and it will soon submit its second report to the forum for deliberation.

     

  • Boko Haram: Police impound 100 vehicles with tinted glasses in Benue

    Boko Haram: Police impound 100 vehicles with tinted glasses in Benue

    There was confusion in Makurdi, Benue State capital yesterday, following massive arrest of vehicles with tainted glass by policemen from Ankpa Ward D Police Station in Makurdi.

    The operation, which caught many car owners unawares, was personally supervised by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Ankpa ward, Mrs. Aritha Ekpete.

    In the operation that lasted more than four hours, more than 100 vehicles were impounded and kept at the police station while the owners were threatened with court action.

    An official vehicle of a member of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) representing north central states (name withheld) was impounded, but she produced some documents permitting her to use tinted glass. The DPO, however turned down pleas to have the official car, which bore Presidency number plate released.

    Those affected in the exercise included House of Assembly members, relations of National Assembly members from the state, local government chairmen and other political office holders.

    The Public Relations Officer of the Benue State Police Command, Ezeala Daniel, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, told The Nation that the police acted on a directive from the headquarters in line with the Tainted Glass Act, which prohibits unauthorised persons from using tainted vehicle glasses.

    On those with official permit, Ezeala said the police would investigate the authenticity of such permits before releasing such vehicles.