Nigeria’s former Military
Head of State Abdulsalami Abubakar
on Thursday joined other Nigerians to
seek amnesty for members of the
Islamic militant group, Boko Haram. “Anything that can bring peace in the
country to the people needs to be
studied and to see the merit and
demerit of such an action. “Yes there are a lot of people for and
against Boko Haram; we should
situate our position to the people who
are getting the blunt of all these
activities. “People are made homeless; they are
made orphans; they are widows; so if
amnesty to this people will bring
peace and bring succour to our
country, why not,” Abubakar said. He spoke with the North America
Correspondent of News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN) at the African Union
secretariat in New York. It was at an event where the AU High
Level implementation Panel (AUHIP)
on Sudan and South Sudan briefed
envoys within the continent on the
progress made by the panel. Since 2009, series of attacks by the
violent sect left 100s of people dead
and several property destroyed. On the democratic institution, the
former military leader appealed to
politicians in the country to be more
broad-minded and to be truthful and
provide services to the nation. “The problem we are having right now
is the problem of development, but it
is very sad it’s happening. “But I believed this is an issue that we
can overcome if all Nigerians unite to
ensure that we fight this cankerworm
that is bedevilling our country,’’
Abubakar noted. According to him, there is no country
in the world that has not got any
problem the way it plays its
democracy. It is a matter of learning
and doing the right thing. “What is Democracy? Democracy is
government of the people for the
people by the people and in the
process there are pitfalls here and
there,’’ he noted. Commenting on the African Union
High Level Implementation Panel on
Sudan, Abubakar said the panel’s
assignment was essentially to
intervene and bring peace between
the two countries of Sudan. “It is in this context that we came to
interact with the UN Security Council
and in the process we met with the
UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon,
and discussed the way forward for
Sudan. “The two Sudan have signed about
nine agreements and they are being
implemented. The most important one
is the resumption of the production of
oil through the Northern Sudan, he
said. He also hailed the security
arrangement whereby the two Sudan
had withdrawn their forces from the
zero line to their own part of the
country. (NAN)

www.vanguargngr.com

See this grey-haired moster? Expressing the same senseless position of a senseless region. Which is saner to ask for? To grant unconditional amnesty to a group, faceless to Nigeria, but known to you or ceasefire from your children as a precondition for any dialogue?
Has Abdusalami ever joined in condeming these unwarranted attacks? Hypocricy at its peak, even from a former head of state. Shame on him and all the animals making same requests!

Now it is easy to know that it's the northern elite sponsoring this evil called "boko haram" for cheap political point...why do they want again after so many years of producing military dictators that have destroyed every sector of this country? Now a Jonathan is cleaning the mess and rot this Hausa's have made over decades, still they want amnesty?? Amnesty my foot

Coming from an ex military man, I'm speechless. One thing worse than a coward is a coward with power.

Tell them to come out identiify themselves, thier sponsors, drop thier weapon and i will give them the so much amnesty they crave for.

Well, the sensible thing to do is to declare amnesty since the use of force has proved to be a failed approach. The killings of innocent people have stop even if it means granting amnesty to criminals. It is only fools that would stick to the same approach that not working and still expecting different results. By declaring amnesty to Boko Haram members, I don't have anything to lose. But by not declaring it, I'm losing innocent people to senseless killings.

maasoap: Well, the sensible thing to do is to declare amnesty since the use of force has proved to be a failed approach. The killings of innocent people have stop even if it means granting amnesty to criminals. It is only fools that would stick to the same approach that not working and still expecting different results. By declaring amnesty to Boko Haram members, I don't have anything to lose. But by not declaring it, I'm losing innocent people to senseless killings.

And who says the strategy is not working? The truth is these northern elites have an agenda. You cannot arm twist a federal government into submission. Imagine what would happen if Abdulsalami, Buhari, IBB, Atiku, Shagari,Ciroma, Sultal, all traditional and religious leaders of Northers extraction come together, first of all condem without hypocrisy the activities of BH, and proceed to solving the BH menace. These guys have the military, traditional and spiritual powers to tackle this stuff. They also have direct access to president GEJ, why not try talking thence first? why the media advice? They are just after running this government down. amnesty to who?After that, what next? BH said they don't want amnesty and some group of frustrated men keep asking for it on their behalf? the question is why?

Amnesty should not result to monthly payment at the end o

^^because they want peace & the only person that can give a comprehensive road map to peace is OGA Jona. D current strategy is not working because BoKo Haram started in just one state and now 3 regions have been engolfed. Only God prevented them in Lagos state from doing their thing. It's just a matter of time b4 bombs go off in southern part of Nigeria and Boko Haram will achieve their aims of widespread anarchy because retaliation will erupt across the nation. People calling for amnesty are wary of this.

slimming: Amnesty should not result to monthly payment at the end o

This is what I have been saying that amnesty doesn't necessarily mean payment of monthly stipends to pardoned criminals. But because the first time many Nigerians were made to be aware of something called "amnesty", it was introduced with 65,000naira monthly stipend.

maasoap: ^^because they want peace & the only person that can give a comprehensive road map to peace is OGA Jona. D current strategy is not working because BoKo Haram started in just one state and now 3 regions have been engolfed. Only God prevented them in Lagos state from doing their thing. It's just a matter of time b4 bombs go off in southern part of Nigeria and Boko Haram will achieve their aims of widespread anarchy because retaliation will erupt across the nation. People calling for amnesty are wary of this.

my question is who are we to give the amnesty to? Ghosts? Lets be frank is it sane? Truth is amnesty must go with some egunje, its already d practice. How many people is oga Jona supposed to be planning for? How do we ensure its not the wrong people that get the amnesty and resultant egunje? That in itself has the capacity to lead to another round of chaos!

^^^Honestly speaking, I am used to laughing now whenever people refer to the sect as ghosts. So, our armed forces have been fighting ghosts since. 1 trillion naira security budget to fight ghosts. We just need to accept the fact the fight against the sect is failing. I, personally do not support amnesty with egunje. Again, amnesty has to be declared before they can come out. That's the only way it can work.