ABUJA — Northern leaders, yesterday, frowned at what they described as a desperate attempt by President Goodluck Jonathan and his administration to blame the rising wave of insecurity in the north on the leaders.

The leaders vowed to resist any attempt by the Presidency to use the Boko Haram onslaught to blackmail them instead of taking proactive measures to nib the insurgence in the bud.

The grouse of the northern leaders was that whereas the President had earlier claimed that he could not offer amnesty to Boko Haram members as they were ghosts, he went ahead to call on Northern elders to enjoin Boko Haram to stop bombings in the country.

A member of the Northern Elders Forum, Dr. Junaid Mohammed and National President of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, who spoke separately to Vanguard described the action of the government as a deliberate attempt to blackmail and provoke the north.

It will be recalled that during a visit to Borno State last month, Jonathan had rejected calls for amnesty to Boko Haram members, saying that he could not be dealing with those he described as ‘’ghosts”.

Last week, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, issued a statement, calling on the Northern elders to prevail on the sect to down tools and accept dialogue as the Niger Delta militants did before the late Yar ‘Ádua offered them pardon.
Governors Aliyu, Yuguda, Lamido and Kwankwaso

Governors Aliyu, Yuguda, Lamido and Kwankwaso

Okupe said: “There is no need for over-politicization of the demand for amnesty, or to blackmail the President for taking strong, patriotic views that are contrary to those of some of our respected elders.

“The true expectation is that our respected leaders will go back to the drawing board and increase consultation and networking with the aim of reaching out to the leadership of the insurgents and convincing them to do the needful and step out to be counted.”

Amnesty for Boko Haram members

Mohammed, a second Republic politician and leader of the ACF vilified the President for refusing to grant amnesty to the sect members, saying that what was good for one part of the country was also good for the other.

Mohammed noted that the President had failed to use his position as the President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces to find an answer to rising insecurity that has led to the killing of innocent men, women and children in the north despite the avalanche of security apparatus and intelligence at his disposal.

The ACF leader, Yerima Shettima, on the other hand, told Vanguard that the north took serious exception to the attempt by the Presidency to associate its leaders with the Boko Haram sect.

Shettima noted, “We don’t control Boko Haram and have no way of knowing what they are doing and what they want. It is the President who once declared that there were Boko Haram members even in his government.

“Having made that public declaration before the world, it is baffling why the President has found it difficult to deal with such members in his government but has continued to make contradictory statements almost on a daily basis, trying to rope in northern elders”.

“We therefore, plead with the President to leave northern elders out of the Boko Haram issues and devise realistic ways of solving the problem of insurgency in the country, one of them being, the carrot and stick approach, so as to give peace a chance to reign in the land.

….Hold Northern leaders responsible for crisis, by Arewa youths

By SONI DANIEL

As security problems in the north escalate, youths in the region, yesterday, expressed disappointment with the political leaders from the area, whom they accused of not showing enough interest in tackling the challenges to pave way for peace and development.

The National President of the Arewa Youth Forum, AYF, Alhaji Gambo Ibrahim Gujungu, who made the feeling of the youths known while speaking with Vanguard, noted that most of the leaders of the region were more interested in pursuing their personal goals than working for the overall welfare of the people.

Gujungu said: “We are disappointed that since the upheavals in the region started and is slowly crippling the economy of the region, those that are said to be representing the region have not deemed it necessary to meet and find a lasting solution to the impasse.

“As youths from the north we are not only disappointed but we also feel let down by those that we toiled for to occupy the exalted positions they are now enjoying today. We are worried that instead of working for the good of the people, these leaders are busy pursuing personal agenda to the detriment of all.

“It is in view of this that we call on leaders of the north at different levels, governors, senators, ministers, lawmakers at the state and national levels, commissioners and even those at the local government level to join hands with the Vice President Namadi Sambo, who is the political leader of the north and tackle the problems in the region.

“We use this opportunity to call on these leaders to put their personal ambition behind them and work for the good of the north as the youths and other well-meaning individuals are watching what is happening and will take necessary action when the time is right”.

“AYF wants to call on persons like the Katsina State Governor Shehu Shema that Arewa Youths are disappointed that instead of staying in Katsina to attend to the needs of the people; the governor is now more prominent in Abuja and Niger Delta.

“AYF is calling on those in the league of the Katsina Governor to have a rethink as after all is said and done, power resides with the people and no matter what the supposed godfathers think, the Nigerian people will one day decide their own fate.
www.vanguardngr.com/2013/04/northern-leaders-to-jonathan-stop-using-boko-haram-to-blackmail-us/

GEJ is sooooooo clueless and dumb !!!
You cant grand amnesty cos they are ghosts and at the same time you are telling our elders to enjoin them to stop the violence. Dumbo

Don Demu: GEJ is sooooooo clueless and dumb !!!
You cant grand amnesty cos they are ghosts and at the same time you are telling our elders to enjoin them to stop the violence. Dumbo

I concur

The Northern Elders are right on this one......Tis the Responsibility of FG to combat Bokoharam and whomsoever that is aiding and abeting them NOT Northern Elders....!!!

Okupe wanna shift the failure of ----- to Northern Elders!!!



All Northern youths would come out for Amnesty most of whom never see bomb before nor carry Guns....Amnesty Kwa....!!!!

GEJ is‎​ using Boko Haram to destroy the North ahead of 2015.

South-West is‎​ the next place..

Be Prepared!!!

malc619: GEJ is‎​ using Boko Haram to destroy the North ahead of 2015.

South-West is‎​ the next place..

Be Prepared!!!

GEJ is a sick joke. Insha Allah he will not even succeed in the north where majority of our people are uneducated and poor talk more of extending his sh*t to the south west. Dumb blood sucker of a president.

Before Amnesty is granted, only a fool will disagree that we need the following information:

1. Number of Boko Haram members
2. Their representatives
3. Their motive for killing innocent people and destroying properties
4. Their blueprint of what needs to be done to alleviate their grievances.

And these can not be ascertained without them coming out and getting counted. Without which, there will be no Amnesty. The North will continue to be destroyed, from State to State by the Boko Haram they created.

Mod carry this to front page now.
This is a national topic that ought to be debated by intellectuals. Na only Tonto Dike news de deserve fP?

Billyonaire: Before Amnesty is granted,... we need the following information:

1. Number of Boko Haram members
2. Their representatives
3. Their motive for killing innocent people and destroying properties
4. Their blueprint of what needs to be done to alleviate their grievances.

And these can not be ascertained without them coming out and getting counted. Without which, there will be no Amnesty...

True this!

But again: why wld responsible leaders fold their hands and watch their homeland reduced to nothingness just because they think d president made misguided utterances. Without considering d remote, immediate and longtime effects the insurgency has.

A scenario: a father continues to leave his home unprotected, jeopardizing his properties & his family's safety & d burglars continue to rob day after day, just because he's angry the police said he knows who's raiding his house. Not wise I might say,

Anyways, in other words, northern leaders do no intend to help. Hmmm...very sinister

A reminder: if he does not win in 2015, he goes away. But d scar Boko Haram leaves will remain on ur land.

Billyonaire: Before Amnesty is granted, only a fool will disagree that we need the following information:

1. Number of Boko Haram members
2. Their representatives
3. Their motive for killing innocent people and destroying properties
4. Their blueprint of what needs to be done to alleviate their grievances.

And these can not be ascertained without them coming out and getting counted. Without which, there will be no Amnesty. The North will continue to be destroyed, from State to State by the Boko Haram they created.

How I wish people like you will come to the north
and see how we live in fear, see orphaned children
everywhere, widowed wives, how able bodied
young men are maimed and precious lives lost by
the hour in the most brutal way. May be that will
prick your conscience to know we just cant do such to ourselves all in the name of power change.
No be se una go se I wicked I for wish make small
go touch una over there may be una go begin think
human begin feel our pains.

Billyonaire: Before Amnesty is granted, only a fool will disagree that we need the following information:

1. Number of Boko Haram members
2. Their representatives
3. Their motive for killing innocent people and destroying properties
4. Their blueprint of what needs to be done to alleviate their grievances.

And these can not be ascertained without them coming out and getting counted. Without which, there will be no Amnesty. The North will continue to be destroyed, from State to State by the Boko Haram they created.

You gotta live it to feel it, cos if you dont you wouldn't get it. All the same, just as we are looking up to God and looking up to GEJ, we are also looking up to you, our brothers and sisters from the south to help us push for ANY ACTION by FG to nip this whole thing in the bud. The fact is we are dying in the most brutal way and we are humans.

It is over to GEJ to stop boko haram or continue to play cheap politics with peoples' lives. God will punish whoever is behind boko haram.

Boko Haram, a bitter meal cooked by the Northern elders to give GEJ n Nigerians constipation? Now who is blackmailing whom?

bknight:

True this!

But again: why wld responsible leaders fold their hands and watch their homeland reduced to nothingness just because they think d president made misguided utterances. Without considering d remote, immediate and longtime effects the insurgency has.

A scenario: a father continues to leave his home unprotected, jeopardizing his properties & his family's safety just because the police said he knows who's raiding his house. Not wise I might say.

Anyways, in other words, northern leaders do no intend to help. Hmmm...very sinister

We just cant do such
to ourselves all in the name of power change. I can not fully exonerate all nothern leaders but there is more than meets the eye. Imagine the most respected emir in the north, Ado Bayero being attacked. And this is the same man who even when he was in the hospital in UK, the masses where eagerly waiting for him to return so they can complain to him about the okada ban kwankwaso imposed while he was away. Through out that period, all you hear about the okada ban is "bari sarki ya dawo su gane basu da wayo" that is "once the emir is back, kwankwaso and his people will know they just cant trample us by taking away our source of livelywood and go scotfree". So is this the same man, the pillar of the masses, the FG will blame for BH? If he wanted to die there are 99 million ways for him to do that and not necessarily taking the stress of training, paying and spending millions of naira importing arms for some bunch of psychos just for them to turn round and kill him.

[b]My take on this is, whilst GEJ should and have already taken decisive action to bring this menace to a halt by sending in JTF, I totally agree with Billyonaire that these murderers must first come out and be counted and state in clear terms what their demands are and if reasonable should be considered. Otherwise there is nothing humnaly speaking anyone can do to stop someone who is ready to die and with the right tools thereof and just looking for the number of people to take with him (Ask America with the biggest military and security intelligence). Secondly, who are the boko boys and where do they live? I believe these animals are neighbours of people in the North and live amongst them and infact are known to a lot of them (If Armed robbers who operate at night are known to the community, how much more a group of people who manufacture bombs and store up explosives in their houses), So why aren't people taking decisive actions to expose these devils in human form and why are the elders not leaving their doors open for people within the community to confide these culprits to them.. Listen, you can blame GEJ from here till eternity, it still doesn't change the fact that these Northern elders are not only hypocrites but have evil plans to discredit the current administration and are only shouting because a few northerners are seeing the light of this FACT. R.I.P to the innocent Men, Women and Children who have been caught in harms way by these blood sucking and letting demons in human form [/b]

Don Demu: Mod carry this to front page now.
This is a national topic that ought to be debated by intellectuals. Na only Tono Dike news de make fP?

Have you forgotten it is tilted towards the benefit of north? If it were news of bomb explosion then it would have been there.

Many of us fail to see beyond the politicization of the BH crises
Personally I believe some northern politicians funded /are funding the sect [more like America funded Afghanistan mujahideens to resist the Soviets invasion] but have long lost control
Many do not know Osama Bin Laden was once an American ally and Al Qaeda came to life when he went AWOL
However America while was able to cripple this incubus and kill Osama because it is a sovereign nation, [b]Al Qaeda was able to spawn genealogies because it is an pseudo religious ideology of Islamic theocracy not an outright armed economic insurrection against the state which MEND is
How come many Moslems while admitting they do not subscribe to the brand of Osama's Islam shy away from out rightly condemning him?
How come Osama Bin Laden is an underground cult hero in the eyes of many a Moslem?
How come Al Qaeda type groups are still carrying out guerilla warfare in the face of the overwhelming superior fire power of the French backed Malian forces?
Why would the pant bomber Mutallab [a UK educated graduate ] turn his back on his privileged background [as Osama Bin Laden did too] and venture to be a suicide bomber?
We can keep blaming politics for BH without failing to note Arab nations horrors long associated with militant Islam is in bed with us
Till date Russia is still yet to subdue Islamic Checheyan rebels
How many understand that misguided Islamic theocracy is behind the Al Qaeda's of this world?[/b]

Ebele Jonathan is too weak and blinded by his 2015 ambition to bring the various Nigerian ethnic nationalities to the round table for us to renegotiate our cooperate existence as a nation
We can keep blaming politics for BH without failing to note Arab horrors long associated with militant Islam is in bed with us
Or that a disastrous religious civil war just a bus ride away from Borno, Kano or any of the Nigerian hotbeds of Islam