A group, Middle Belt Dialogue, has objected to the planned amnesty for Boko Haram, citing the sect’s alleged atrocities against Christians in the north over the last three years.

In a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday, the group claimed that Boko Haram torched 200 churches and killed over 1,250 Christians during the period.

This, it said, is enough to deny the sect any reprieve.

In the letter entitled “Please rethink that journey to nowhere with Boko Haram,” and signed by one Emmanuel Alamu, the group said there is no basis for comparing a political/economic, based agitation by Niger Delta militants with a religious/political ideological- based struggle of Boko Haram.

Alamu did not say who he is, neither did he disclose the identity of other members of the group. Nothing was equally said about the group: its objectives, when it was formed, and when it met to take a position on the move by government to grant amnesty to Boko Haram.

The Middle Belt Dialogue which gave its address as Suite 21,Silla Seka Plaza, Adebayo Adedeji Plaza, Utako, Abuja, and its e-mail address as info@middlebeltdialogue.com, said it does not see how the planned amnesty will work in view of Boko Haram’s link with Al-Qaeda.

It, however, said that should President Jonathan decide to go ahead with his plan, Boko Haram must be made to meet 10 conditions.

These are: the leadership of the group(s) must come out of the closet; all factions of the group must be involved in the negotiations; renunciation of violence by Boko Haram; they must undertake to submit to the federal government a register of all their members; they must surrender to the federal government all arms and ammunition in their possession; they must disclose their source(s) of finance and arms; they must sign an undertaking to never revert to violence; they must undertake to repay the assessed cost of damages wreaked on private properties and places of worship; and they must offer unconditional apology to Nigerians for the damage that has been done to their psyche through their activities.

The Middle Belt Dialogue also called for the rebuilding of all churches and houses destroyed by the sect and the resettlement of all displaced communities.

It said: “The Boko Haram, even as the champions of this amnesty are on the campaign trail, has in the last seven days attacked and destroyed Middle Belt communities in Southern Kaduna State, Adamawa State (where the village of the Deputy Governor and the house of the deputy Governor, a Christian were targeted and destroyed), Riyom in Plateau State, parts of Taraba, Nasarawa and Benue states.”

The group attributed the Boko Haram attacks to the outcome of 2011 general elections and said: “Indeed, statistics released by international agencies show that more Christians were killed in Nigeria in the year 2012 for their faith than the rest of the world combined. It may be noted that the Boko Haram attacks spiked after the April11, 2011 elections.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/middle-belt-dialogue-lists-10-conditions-for-boko-haram-to-get-amnesty/