The Presidential Committee on the Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Conflicts in Northern Nigeria has back tracked on its purported ceasefire agreement with Boko Haram even as the leader of the terrorist sect has come out to deny any such agreement.
In a video obtained byFrench news agency, AFP, Shekau is seen narrating a statement previously written for the purpose.
In it he narrates in Hausa, “Let me assure you that we will not enter into any truce with these infidels. We will not enter into any truce with the Nigerian government. We believe in the massacre inflicted on the secondary school in Mamudo and Damaturu and other schools. We earlier warned that we were going to burn all schools. They are schools purposely built to fight Islam.”
However Chairman of the Committee and Minister of Special Duties, Alhaji Tanimu Turaki, had on a Hausa service programme of Radio France International monitored in Kano, July 8, said that the FG had secured a ceasefire deal.
Imam Marwana, a member of the sect said to belong to the Shekau faction reportedly confirmed the truce deal and begged Nigerians to forgive them “over the number of people killed in the country. I appeal to those who lost their loved ones to our activities to forgive us and on our side, we have forgiven all those who committed atrocities against us.”
A source in the committee said the authenticity of the statement credited to Shekau was in doubt, since it could not be verified.
National Chairman, Foundation for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria (FEHN), Allen Onyema, who is responsible for co-ordinating the amnesty programme in the Niger Delta said government should be more open in revealing who it entered into agreement with.
He argued, “If it is true that the presidential committee had any contact with real Boko Haram and they have accepted cease-fire, that is welcome but they must be sure of what they are saying. It will be very embarrassing for the Federal Government if the impasse continues after the cease-fire. They need to let the country know those who had signed the cease-fire.
“When Chris Ekiyor took over as the leader of the Ijaw Youth Council, he went round the camps and got the militants to accept non-violence. We knew who and who were in the cease-fire agreement. Kingsley Kuku, Godwin Abbe, Tony Anenih and others paid visits to the militants and it was televised. It was made open. We know the ex-militants. Who are the Boko Haram leaders and members that the committee spoke with? Who and who agreed to cease-fire? I want the government to be transparent so that the country will be free. I don’t like what is happening in the North. A bigger and peaceful Nigeria is better for us.”
Afenifere’s Publicity Secretary, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, also reacted: “I think we should take Turaki, chairman of the Presidential Committee on Boko Haram to task now because we saw him on television that they have signed a ceasefire with Boko Haram and he even said something so offensive that Boko Haram has promised not to attack during the Ramadan. Assuming it was true, it was okay for Boko Haram to go and attack people on Christmas Day but they cannot attack during Ramadan and for a minister of the Federal Government of Nigeria to be party to such an agreement, then it is quite discomforting.
“Now that Shekau has denied that agreement, we need to ask which Boko Haram Turaki was claiming and it shows clearly that may also be a confirmation of the statement credited to the president some time ago that Boko Haram had infiltrated his government. It shows that there may be sympathizers of Boko Haram in government who are trying to tailor it to that direction.”