The North on Wednesday
disagreed with the National
Assembly on the proscription
of two Islamic miltant groups
– Boko Haram and Ansaru–by
President Goodluck Jonathan. While the North through its
two prominent groups, the
Arewa Consultative Forum
and the Northern Elders
Forum, faulted the ban, the
National Assembly insisted that it was a welcome
development. To the ACF and the NEF, the
Jonathan administration has
through the ban thrown a
spanner in the works in its
efforts to end bloodletting in
the North through amnesty for Boko Haram and Ansaru
members. They said they were waiting
to see how the Federal
Government would address
the crisis in the North. In an interview with one of
our correspondents in Kaduna,
the ACF’s National Publicity
Secretary, Mr. Anthony Sani,
argued that with the ban,
negotiations with Boko Haram would be difficult. He asked, “Now that they
(government) have
proscribed the sect, can they
now negotiate with a non-
existing group? “Before, the government told
us that it was using a stick
and carrot approach; that is,
negotiation and state of
emergency; now that they
have proscribed it (Boko Haram), how will the
negotiation work? “It is the government that
told us that a stick and carrot
approach will work together.
Now that they have gone to
proscribe Boko Haram, let us
see how they will apply the stick and carrot. We pray that
they succeed.” Sani wondered if the
government would negotiate
with members of the sect
individually instead of
meeting the group. He added, “The government
said they needed the
emergency in order to reclaim
the seized town taken over
by Boko Haram. This made
Nigerians, including us (ACF) to give them the go-ahead.
We supported the state of
emergency to reclaim seized
part of the country. “But now that they have
proscribed the sect, we don’t
know how they will apply
the carrot. Now, how can you
negotiate with an illegal
entity? The group has just been proscribed. They have
announced it. They are
applying the stick now but
we don’t know how they
will apply the carrot.” His counterpart in the NEF,
Prof. Ango Abdullahi, said the
proscription contradicted
government’s efforts to
negotiate with the sect. Abdullahi argued that the
proscription of anything
should come after the legal
existence of such a thing. He added, “As far as I can
understand, if there is an
organisation registered with
the Corporate Affairs
Commission and is operating
according to the law before it was registered; and then
along the line, the
organisation begins to infringe
on the laws that created it or
even against its laws as
registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, you can
then go ahead and cancel its
registration. “If its activities are violating
the law of the country, then
issues like banning and
proscription come into play. “But in this case, people say
they don’t know what this
Boko Haram is, they don’t
know the members and they
are trying to get the members
to come out for dialogue . “If you are looking for
dialogue, you have to expect
that there will be people who
will come out under certain
respectable conditions. “Two things have happened
simultaneously- the
declaration of a state of
emergency which connotes
the declaration of martial law.
You cannot expect somebody to come and meet soldiers
under emergency conditions
and now you have the
proscription.” Apart from the ACF and NEF,
the Northern Youth
Consultative Forum, a former
Lagos State Police
Commissioner, Abubakar
Tsav, and the Campaign for Democracy flayed the ban. The N Y C F National President,
Alhaji Aminu Mohammed,
Tsav and CD President Dr. Joe
Okei-Odumakin, spoke
separately with our
correspondents on Wednesday. Mohammed, who expressed
concern about the planned
amnesty for Boko Haram
members, said it was
unfortunate that all along, the
Jonathan administration had been playing politics with the
sect. He said, “We are all intelligent.
You cannot create many
things at the same time: Boko
Haram, amnesty committee,
fighting insurgents and
proscribing the group. “How do we trust the
government? Is it not the
government that is messing
things up? Let them tell us
who Boko Haram is? Where
are they?” On his part, Tsav asked, “Is
this ban an Act of National
Assembly or a decree by the
President and Commander-in-
Chief of the Armed Forces of
Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan? “Why did the President not
include MEND(Movement for
the Emancipation of the Niger
Delta), NDVF (Niger Delta
Volunteer Force), OPC (Odua
People’s Congress), Ombatse, etc in the ban since these
organisations also engage in
acts of terrorism? “Was Boko Haram a legal
organisation before the ban?
He(President) just sleeps,
dreams and acts on his dreams
without thinking. Laws are
made for all but GEJ’s law is discriminatory and with
ethnic bias. “This is civilian dictatorship
and not democracy. What is
sauce for the goose is sauce
for the gander.” Also, Okei-Odumakin said the
ban was meaningless. She asked, “What is the use of
government outlawing a
group that had already
declared that it was the
Federal Government that
should beg it for amnesty? “It is meaningless and
preposterous. The Boko Haram
would laugh it off as a joke.
What the government needs
to do is to enforce law and
order.” Is spite of the knocks from
the ACF, NEF, N Y C F, CD and
Tsav, Jonathan got a strong
backing from the National
Assembly which said it would
stand behind him in any action that would end insurgency in
the country. Senate Spokesman, Enyinnaya
Abaribe, while briefing
journalists on Wednesday,
said, “The Senate welcomes
the proscription of Boko
Haram and other terrorist groups in the country.
Although it is coming late, it is
good and we will continue to
support the President’s efforts
to bring peace to the
country.” He clarified that the
proclamation would not
affect the amnesty plans,
arguing that amnesty was for
those who renounced their
participation in terrorist activities. Abaribe said, “Those who are
still continuing with terrorism
are not covered by the
amnesty.” Chairman, House Committee
on Media and Public Affairs,
Mr. Zakari Mohammed, said,
“The prescription order is a
step in the right direction. As
a House, we will support every proactive measure
taken by the Federal
Government to stem the tide
of insecurity in the country. “Whenever the government
makes a pronouncement that
is good, we will support it as a
House.”
http://247nigerianewsupdate.com/north-kicks-against-ban-on-bharam-ansaru/

Mods, dont know if this is in the right section, if its not, kindly help me move it to proper section.

They are
applying the stick now but
we don’t know how they
will apply the carrot.”

“Before, the government told
us that it was using a stick
and carrot approach; that is,
negotiation and state of
emergency; now that they
have proscribed it (Boko Haram), how will the
negotiation work? “It is the government that
told us that a stick and carrot
approach will work together.
Now that they have gone to
proscribe Boko Haram, let us
see how they will apply the stick and carrot. We pray that
they succeed.” Sani wondered if the
government would negotiate
with members of the sect
individually instead of
meeting the group.

Which carrot again? Did they not reject the (carrot) negotiations?

idlaw2k3:



Which carrot again? Did they not reject the (carrot) negotiations?

i wonder. I suspect something fishy about those folks.

Now we know! They should hold their sons back because JTF is on a mission, no going back.

Wondaful!!..... Listening to Northern leadas' comments on BH removes doubts, from even the most cautious, about their complicity in using BH and co as a political tool to acquire power...

taharqa2: Wondaful!!..... Listening to Northern leadas' comments on BH removes doubts, from even the most cautious, about their complicity in using BH and co as a political tool to acquire power...

See as demdem dey beg for carrot 
Market don fall press them
Nothing like carrot again o, na pepper and tatashe