By Chioma Gabriel
NIGERIANS heaved a sigh of relief when mid last month, the
Federal Government announced ceasefire deal with the Boko
Haram sect. Nigerians were happy that finally, the siege was
over especially with the promise that the over 200 kidnapped
Chibok girls would soon be released. With the directive to the
service chiefs of the Army, Navy, Airforce and Inspector
General of Police to comply with the ceasefire agreement in all
theatres of operations, the media world-wide celebrated the
anticipated peace.
The Chief of Defence Staff had said: “Without any prejudice to
the outcome of our three-day interactions and the conclusions
of this forum, I wish to inform this audience that a ceasefire
agreement has been concluded between the Federal
Government of Nigeria and the Ahlul Sunna Li Daawa Wal
Jihad (Boko Haram). I have accordingly directed the service
chiefs to ensure immediate compliance with this development
in the field.”
An unknown man who claimed to be the Boko Haram
secretary, had confirmed the ceasefire, telling the VOA Hausa
service that the group had accepted the ceasefire.
The doubts: Even at the time when the ceasefire was
announced, many Nigerians including inhabitants of Borno
expressed unbelief over its authenticity, giving diverse reasons
for their doubts. It was not the first time a ceasefire was
brokered and many felt it should not be seriously considered.
Asabe Kwambura, the principal of the Government Secondary
School, Chibok,where the girls were kidnapped on April 14, at
the announcement expressed her doubt saying, “we thought
since our last meeting with the president in Abuja, these girls
would have since been rescued and reunited with their
parents. I will be the happiest person in the world to see these
girls of mine return home in one piece. Nothing will supersede
my joy but all this will not be possible if the federal
government does not follow this declaration with action,
honesty and sincerity.
“Many of the parents of these girls are suffering and dying.
Some have died of high blood pressure and post trauma
stress disorder. I was in Chibok with the parents and their
plight is beyond words. We need to have these girls back; this
is another opportunity for us to do so.”
Expressing his doubt, the Coordinator of Peace Ambassadors
in Borno State, Ahmed Shehu, said his concern about the
ceasefire was its timing.
Nature of present crisis
“My concern is on the nature of the present crisis and it’s
timing.The timing for the cease-fire is suspicious. Why now;
why would they wait for the four African countries to step up
the fight before they announce a ceasefire; why would they
wait until their capacity and strength be weakened before they
announce a ceasefire? For me, there is more to it than meet
the eye. It’s suspicious, and I don’t want to sound as a
pessimist; (but) it is ill timed and it’s not feasible”.
Another resident said that “something is logically wrong with
the whole ceasefire issue. This is not the first time that we are
hearing declarations of ceasefire or its proposal by the Boko
Haram.
There was a time when some members of the Boko Haram,
though unknown, came out to say if we must cease fire, the
federal government had to arrest so and so personality and
even rebuild their destroyed central mosque in Maiduguri.
The pattern with which such declarations were made was
very unique and consistent. But from the tone of the
declaration made by the federal government as well as the
manner with which the so-called secretary of the group had
spoken in the radio, one tends to have some doubts.
“There is doubt because there had never been a time in the
life of the Boko Haram leaders where we hear them lamenting
loss of members or admitting the magnitude of pains they
have suffered. If Shekau is to speak, his message is all about
the doctrines of his group and what they stand for. He would
emphasise that dying in the course of what they are doing is a
thing of pride to them.
“But the problem is that we don’t even learn from history; if
we are to follow the trend of these announcements, right from
the time of Abukakar (the erstwhile spokesman of Boko
Haram) period, there wasn’t a time where any persons
speaking on behalf of the Boko Haram, be it Shekau or any
other Amir would come and talk without reciting some verses
of the Holy Quran first. But here we have one coming out to
say he is the Secretary of the group and they have decided to
ceasefire. It is really difficult to believe; but we all hope for a
true ceasefire, anyway”.
These doubts by Borno residents became real barely 24 hours
after the ceasefire deal was brokered and announced. It was
all a spoof. Barely 24 hours after the ceasefire deal was
announced, the terrorists struck Borno again, giving an
indication that there was no such agreement, and attacking
Maikadiri in Abadam Local Government Area, in northern
Borno State, and Sina and Grata villages in Michika Local
Government Area in Adamawa State.
The attacks continued from time to time and even more
women and girls were abducted, leaving the federal
government embarrassed and even stupid. The latest was the
bomb explosion in Gombe State and seizure of Mubi in
Adamawa State.
Irked by the worsening situation of things, many Nigerians
and groups have expressed dismay and lack of confidence in
the federal government and Boko Haram ceasefire deal. The
Arewa Consultative Forum in a statement issued by its
National Publicity Secretary, Muhammad Ibrahim, expressed
dismay over the latest bomb blast that hit Gombe last Friday.
“The bomb blast in Gombe, the continued killings and seizure
of towns and villages in Borno and now Mubi in Adamawa
State by insurgents barely two weeks after the announcement
that a ceasefire had been brokered between the Boko Haram
insurgents and the Federal Government calls to question the
sincerity and effectiveness of the ceasefire agreement.
“Despite the assurances given by government that appropriate
security measures were being put in place to contain the
insurgency including the ceasefire agreement, the situation in
the Northeast region was deteriorating and required a decisive
action to quell it. Towns like Bama, Gwoza and many others
are still under the control of the insurgents despite the
emergency rule in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.
Security challenges
“Nigerians are becoming skeptical and no longer had
confidence in the assurances being given by government
officials regarding the security challenges, since the terrorists
had continued to unleash mayhem on the people without
adequate counter offensive from the military. The bomb blast
that occurred last Friday at the Gombe motor park was
wicked, gruesome and condemnable considering the 27
innocent people killed in the blast and also the destruction of
property it caused.
It is an irony that, while Nigerians in the Northeast region are
being killed by insurgents and Nigerian territories being
seized, our politicians are busy collecting party declaration
forms to contest 2015 elections instead of collaborating efforts
to contain the insurgency.”
Boko Haram denies ceasefire
But in a strange development, Boko Haram denied that they
had agreed to a ceasefire with the Nigerian government. A
new video obtained by news agency AFP on October 31
showed Abubakar Shekau, (the same man the military
claimed they had killed?) describing the Nigerian government
claims of a ceasefire as a lie and also saying that the 219
abducted Chibok schoolgirls had been converted to Islam and
married off. The presidency had announced that an
agreement had been reached to free the missing Chibok girls
whose abduction sparked global anger and demands for their
release.
Shekau had said in Hausa: “We did not negotiate with
anyone… It’s a lie. It’s a lie. We will not negotiate. What is
our business with negotiation? Allah said we should not.”
Shekau in the same video equally ruled out future talks with
the Nigerian Government. With continued killings in the
northeast in spite of the ceasefire, Nigerian soldiers
numbering about 300 fled to Cameroon after Boko Haram
insurgents overran Mubi, the second largest city in Borno
State. The Nigerian soldiers fled the north-eastern part of
Nigeria and crossed the Nigeria-Cameroon border. The troops
fled to the border towns in Cameroon after the Mubi attack.
There have also been mass exodus of residents that
Cameroon started screening refugees to prevent infiltration by
insurgents. Worried by the worsening situation of things, the
Bringback our girls Movement expressed shock over the
failure of the ceasefire and continued bombardment of the
Northeast communities.
“We are extremely shocked and gravely perturbed that the
insurgency seems to be engulfing more cities within the North
East zone even at a time the Federal Government confidently
announced a ceasefire of its counter terrorism war. Let no one
pretend that we are not facing the most substantial threat to
the integrity and existence of our country.
What more extreme manifestations are we waiting for than the
evidence of a rampaging group of terrorists carrying out
heinous carnage in Mubi in Adamawa, Borno, Yobe and
Gombe barely two weeks after the Chief of Defence Staff
publicly conveyed a stand down order to our troops who were
in the front prosecuting the war.
We, like most Nigerians, are at a loss on what the latest
development means for our counter insurgency war and for
the safety of our citizens and territory. Has the purported
‘ceasefire’ failed? What explains the gruesome reality that
after the “ceasefire” announcement of October 17, the
terrorists have been attacking many more communities. How
do we explain the escalating number of innocent citizens
being killed or taken hostage after they had been informed by
our government of a negotiated truce and détente? Has our
Federal Government, through the military, given a new and
countermanding order to our soldiers to resume the war and
protect our citizens and territory?”
Repeated failures
From records, it was not the first time that an agreement was
brokered between Federal Government and Boko Haram and it
was not the first time truce talk with the sect failed. In July
2013, Imam Muhammadu Marwana, who claimed to
represent Boko Haram spoke on the Hausa Service of Radio
France International, apologising on behalf of the sect’s past
murderous activities and announcing a decision to end
insurgency. Marwana made the announcement days after the
Federal Government raised a 25-man committee to work out
modalities for granting amnesty to the sect, saying in the
radio programme that the Minister of Special Duties and
chairman of the Peace and Dialogue Committee in the North,
Alhaji Tanimu Turaki, signed the ‘agreement’ on behalf of the
Jonathan government.
It was a failed project
On January 28. 2013, Muhammed Abdulazeez Ibn Idris,
claiming to be a Boko Haram commander announced a
ceasefire deal on behalf of Shekau, the leader of the sect. He
claimed the truce was the outcome of meetings with Borno
State government officials and Boko Haram, saying the sect
agreed to end insurgency out of concern for women and
children who have borne the brunt of activities of the sect.
Idris had demanded that the former head of state, General
Muhammadu Buhari, should serve as a negotiator in the
talks. But Buhari turned down the request, accusing the PDP
instead of deliberately using the purported Boko Haram
emissary to portray him as a sponsor of the sect to discredit
him politically.
A month later, Shekau repudiated the ceasefire declaration
and vowed to continue the deadly attacks. So, kidnapping,
suicide bombing and killings continued, an evidence that the
sect was not part of any of such ceasefire deal.
Before this time, a ceasefire was attempted in 2012 when the
sect nominated Dr. Datti Ahmed, a Kano-based medical
doctor and Muslim cleric, and Comrade Sani, to represent it in
talks with government but Ahmed, known to be active in the
promotion of the Muslim Sharia legal system that Boko
Haram is advocating withdrew from the mediation with the
government on the grounds of insincerity on the part of
government and leakage of the details of meetings to the
media.
The same year (2012), the sect pulled out of talks with
government representatives in Kaduna following the arrest of
one of its senior commanders, Abu Dardaa, whom it had sent
for talks.
Nigerians witnessed how negotiations that would have gotten
the Chibok girls released early in the year in exchange for
Boko Haram commanders in its custody failed because the
Federal Governement did not follow it through. That
negotiation was handled by the Australian cleric, Stephen
Davis.

Source
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/11/fgboko-haram-ceasefire-deal-failed/

By d way, y did u create my topic?

zeemahn:
Source
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/11/fgboko-haram-ceasefire-deal-failed/

I liked your post

The main reason is GEJ and his advisers decided not to take the negotiation option they are not taking months ago but only decided to fool us now that election is close.

Where were they all along? Why wait till 5 months to the election?

The fact that they negotiated with only one group shows the government's cluelessneess.

Mods front-page
Someone should help me call the mods