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Govt gives terms for talks with Boko Haram
 [Guardian Ng] FOR the Federal Government to engage in direct negotiations with Boko Haram... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... , the group has to constitute a credible leadership or its leader Ibrahim Shekau has to publicly renounce violence and embrace dialogue as a path to peace. This was the position of the Federal Government as articulated Monday by the National Coordinator of Counter Terrorism and Insurgency in the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj.-Gen. Sarkin Yakin Bello. Besides, an Islamic group, Ansaru, Monday grabbed credit for the kidnapping of foreigners on a construction site in Bauchi last weekend. Meanwhile, ...back at the argument, Livia grabbed for Jane's hair to make her point. Jane elbowed her in the face in rebuttal... President  Goodluck Jonathan... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau... has ordered the nation's security agencies to take "all necessary actions" to locate and rescue the kidnapped foreigners. Jonathan also commiserated with the family of the guard who was reportedly killed in the attack on the site. Bello also disclosed that the country would soon set up a National Counter Terrorism Centre that would serve as a processing centre for all intelligence, which would address the peculiar security challenges of the country. Bello said at the National Defence College, Abuja while addressing visiting top United States military leaders and their Nigerian counterparts that Nigeria had a primary interest in the containment of the beturbanned goons in Mali as the country had been providing safe haven for the Boko Haram elements in Nigeria. Noting that membership of the terrorist groups also included nationals drawn from Niger, Chad and Cameroun, Bello declared that "to finally solve the Boko Haram challenge in Nigeria, the umbilical cord between it and other terror groups need to be broken. And that is what is happening right now in Mali. Most of the snuffies in Northern Nigeria come from Mali. So, we have a primary interest to contain the beturbanned goons in Mali. There is a containment interest, which is in our national interest. That (Mali) is where Boko Haram members get their training, funding and bases. They are well established there." Explaining that the Federal Government was not averse to negotiating with the terror group as a way of bringing peace, Bello said that "if a credible leadership shows itself, government is ready to negotiate with them. If (leader of the Boko Haram sect, Ibrahim) Shekau can come out, using his usual medium, to renounce violence, the government will be ready for the dialogue." Posted by: Fred 2013-02-19 |
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