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

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.



http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/04/northern-leaders-to-jonathan-stop-using-boko-haram-to-blackmail-us/

This is arrant hypocrisy by the Northern elders, or whatever they call themselves.

It should be the other way round like:STOP USING BOKOHARAM TO BLACKMAIL THE PRESIDENCY.

Are they not the same people who openly said that they will unleash hell and make the country ungovernable for uncle JONA? Who is blackmailing who?

Good Morning Nairalanders.

God Bless Nigeria.

These fools never cease to amaze me. The Idiots are behind the problems in their barbaric place. God punish them!!!

Nigerians to Northern Leaders: Stop using 'Boko Haram' to drag us back.. These northern leaders should stop the clown show and let Nigeria progress. The north if they want to be should go their fvcking ways. Nigeria and Nigerians could do better without these backward and enemy of progress cow people.. Abeg, northern leaders, no vex me o.....

Can these so-called Northern leaders swear by their mothers breast that they don't know these BH members? Let them keep on passing the bulk, while their region burns.

iichidodo: It should be the other way round like:STOP USING BOKOHARAM TO BLACKMAIL THE PRESIDENCY.

Gbam!!!

All I know is that southerners are too hypocritical to be able to reason without bias against the north hence could not be able to see rationally any comments from the north as making sense. If the president were from the north, and the problem is coming from the south you'd see a different tune when the issue is tabled for discussion.

Apologies to those sincere brothers from the south who are patriotic in both their words and endeavors, both home and abroad.

...WHAT IS GOOD FOR ONE PART OF THE COUNTRY IS GOOD FOR THE OTHER. Can the speaker listen to his voice. He want the ghost to be givin amnesty because the niger delta militant was given amnesty and did know that massob and opc are watching. Believe me, the day boko haram is given amnesty will be the day i will say pack my family and say bye bye to this country as another group will and equally ask for amneesty in the sence that what is good for south is good for north and will also be good for east, west and middle belt. Oh! my God i wish our so called compatriots will arise to see that their labour is now in vain. pls fellow nigerians, let us be sincere to ourself, let us forget sentiment and look for alternative and once and for all means of solving our problems and say no to amnesty

NA ONLY SMALL THING YOU SEE, THE FG PLANS TO USE THE BOKO CRISES TO;

1. CRIPPLE NORTHERN NIGERIA ECONOMICALLY AND OTHERWISE
2. HARASS AND BLACKMAIL OPPOSITION FIGURE
3. SACK AND DISMISS TOP NORTHERN ECHO LITE IN THE GOVERNMENT ESPECIALLY THE MILITARY
4. CHEAP POLITICAL BLACKMAIL TO CONTINUE THEIR RULE
5. IMPLEMENT US GLOBAL AGENDA AGAINST MUSLIMS
6. DEPOPULATE THE CORE NORTH THRU MASS KILLINGS
7. POLITICIZE AND POLARIZE THE MILITARY AND SECURITY SYSTEMS
8.
9.
10.
11...

......AND FINALLY AFTER ACHIEVING ALL THOSE, THEY WOULD SEND THE REMAINS OF DILAPIDATED CORE NORTH TO NIGER REPUBLIC !

Then just what the hell is their use if they can't prevail on those bloodthirsty demons in their domains to give up their evil ways? They want the President to take 'proactive measures' to deal with the boko issue; besides having the army and secret service there, what else do they want him to do?......level the whole place like OBJ did with Odi?

The other day, GEJ said in a confirmed statement that BH are not muslims, therefore, if the so called elders dish out sh1ts like this, I won't blame them. That's why as a leader, it is always imperative you think before you utter a sound, let alone to make sentences.

So gej wants destroy the north abi? Na gej they give boko haram guns and bomb abi? The boko haram spokesman wey dey release video for youtube said he is doing what he is doing in the name of Gej abi?

gradually the northern elders are feeling the heat.soon dey will be target of boko haram

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, 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?

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