For some, the killing of more than 70 persons in a suicide bomb attack on a bus park in Kano last Monday makes the case for granting terrorists rampaging across northern Nigeria amnesty, more compelling.
I beg to disagree. If anything, this stomach-churning slaughter of innocents by faceless cowards should embarrass all those making the amnesty argument.
As an instrument for bringing peace to strife-torn countries, the amnesty has its place. But it works best where the issues involved are largely political or more general crimes. It is more difficult to accept where the matters are sectarian or religious, and where the potential beneficiaries are bestial killers who unapologetically target unarmed civilians – even children.
Those pushing the case for amnesty for Boko Haram militants think they have latched on to a magic bullet that will make the current misery of northern Nigeria disappear. But they are mistaken for a number of reasons.
Firstly, mass killings have become ritualistic over the last five decades in the north. What Boko Haram is doing today is not different from what the followers of Mohammed Marwa aka Maitatsine did in Kano, Kaduna and other places in the 70s and 80s. In that period, thousands of people lost their lives as adherent of his sect clashed with other groups and security agencies.
Interestingly, Maitatsine saw the reading of any other book but the Koran as paganism. He preached against the use of radios, watches, bicycles, cars and undue accumulation of cash – doctrines which bears an eerie resemblance to what Boko Haram – Western education is sin – propagates.
Today’s horrific killings may be shocking, but all those not afflicted with amnesia, will see that they pale in comparison to what happened to a certain Gideon Akaluka in Kano in 1994.
He was an Igbo trader resident whose wife was accused of desecrating a page from the Koran. Confronted by irate accusers, Akaluka fled to the Bompai, Kano police station for refuge. Soon the mob tracked him down and demanded that the police hand him over. They quickly obliged.
Right there, before people who were supposed to enforce the law, he was beheaded and his head impaled on a stake. The gory trophy was then paraded triumphantly round the metropolis by the ‘all-conquering’, singing and chanting mob. No one was ever brought to justice over that act of bestiality, neither were the police ever punished for dereliction of duty.
Hardly a year passes in the north without terrible and inexplicable killings triggered by sectarian or political causes. Over a week in February 2000, more than 400 persons were killed in Kaduna State following riots that accompanied the introduction of Sharia law.
After three days of rioting across the north in November 2002, over 100 people were killed after THISDAY newspaper published a controversial article following the botched attempt to host a Miss World pageant in Nigeria.
I doubt if anyone is keeping count. But the death toll in the lingering communal clashes in Plateau State since their onset must be somewhere in the thousands. The outrages continue today, unfortunately we have become so desensitised to mass murder that the abominable numbers no longer shock us.
This mass slaughter is errant behavior that has continued because it has never been confronted in any serious manner over the years. Rather than bring peace to the north, amnesty will be a reward for bullying conduct. Another set of thugs will rise up conscious of the fact that politically-correct politicians will one day band together to pat them on the back.
The second reason why this amnesty business will not wash is that the current insurgents are a totally different kettle of fish because of the time of their manifestation. Whereas their forerunners like the Maitatsine sect were a local phenomenon, Boko Haram has well-established ties not only with the routed Islamists in Mali, but also with the global Jihadi movement.
It continues to thrive because some of those it targets are not motivated just by a need to escape justice. They are not the dregs of earth pushed into criminality by poverty. Some like Farouk Abdulmuttalab are the scion of the rich classes seduced by romantic notions of jihad sold by the terrorist Al-Qaeda network.
When President Goodluck Jonathan said government will not extend amnesty to ghosts, some criticised him – saying Boko Haram were not faceless because some of their suspected members were in jail. But who do we have in jail other than some hungry 18-year old paid to place an IED in a public square?
These are errand boys whose only contact with anything that approximates sect leadership is some disembodied voice at the other end of a phone line. A serious matter like amnesty cannot be discussed with clueless messengers or so-called leaders who won’t show their faces.
Boko Haram bigwigs are not in jail, neither are their sponsors. They are so ashamed of their evil deeds they hide behind balaclava masks to address the media. If I were responsible for the Kano carnage that killed more of my people than my supposed enemies, I would be ashamed too. This is the third ground that makes it virtually impossible to contemplate any such measure for the sect.
When the Niger Delta militants signed on to the amnesty deal, they all crawled out of the creeks and were shipped off to Aso Rock for photo opportunities with the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. The world was at last able to put faces to shadowy characters with exotic names like “Tompolo,” “General Shoot-at-Sight” “Ogunboss” etc.
Although they had used unlawful, and often violent means to pursue their cause, but their fight against the economic rape of their region and the decades-long environmental degradation was a noble one that even mainstream politicians could identify with. The same cannot be said of Boko Haram. Which major northern politician wants to be associated with this despicable group?
Several months ago they named some major northern figures to negotiate with the Federal Government on their behalf. Within hours the would-be peacemakers were falling over themselves trying to put distance between them and the group.
Of course, there is the rump of Boko Haram led by one Sheik Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulazeez which says it now wants peace. But before we get ahead of ourselves, we should ask how many legions of terrorists this chap commands.
One thing I know is that he has absolutely no control over the Kano killers. Neither does he have any hold over the Ansaru faction which claimed responsibility for the execution of seven foreign hostages two weeks ago.
Rather than wasting time on this amnesty talk, government should be thinking of developing capacity for fighting the terrorists. After 9/11, when Al-Qaeda caught the United States cold, the Americans created the Department of Homeland Security as part of their comprehensive response. They didn’t choose the easy way out by offering amnesty to the enemies of all that they stood for.
Today, the major national security threat facing Nigeria is terror, not some cross-border invasion by any of our neighbours. That is why the balance of our security spending should tilt away from conventional forces towards building up intelligence and counterinsurgency.
Let’s fight for justice and human values for once. This unhealthy stampede to offer amnesty is akin to surrendering to fringe elements who through murderous tactics are making us lose our humanity. Let’s grow a spine and say no to evil.
