Human rights activist and President of Civil
Rights Congress, CRC, Mr. Shehu Sani,
yesterday, alleged that it was President
Goodluck Jonathan that scuttled an initial
effort to constructively engage key
members of the Boko Haram Islamist sect
with a view to convincing them to end the
blood-letting insurgency in the northern
part of the country.
Sani, who spoke at a seminar for judges
and journalists, organised by Konrad
Adenaver- Stitung, KAS, a German non-
governmental organisation, gave an
account of some underground moves that
were made by some elder statesmen,
including former President, Chief Olusegun
Obasanjo.
Sani, who presented a paper on The
Difficulties of Political Cases in Justice
Delivery, recalled how he persuaded
Obasanjo to visit the family of the slain
leader of Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf, in
Maiduguri on a peace mission.
It will be recalled that the representative of
Mohammed Yusufs’ family, Babakura Fugu,
who hosted Obasanjo in Maiduguri, was
killed shortly after the meeting.
However, Sani said he opted out of the
presidential committee because he was
convinced that it would not achieve
anything given his earlier experience with
the Presidency on the matter.
Obasanjo intervenes
He said: “I independently reached out to
leaders of Boko Haram and offered myself
to mediate on behalf of the Federal
Government.
“When they were ready to talk, and
because I do not have the telephone
numbers of President Goodluck Jonathan, I
decided to reach out to Obasanjo.
“I narrated my encounter with members of
Boko Haram to Obasanjo and he said ‘are
you really sure of this?’ I said yes and
invited him to Maiduguri.
“Thereafter, I told the leaders of the sect
that I was coming with former President,
Obasanjo.
They agreed and gave us conditions that
the meeting should take place in Maiduguri
with no security men and journalists
involved.
“At the meeting, they came out with
photographs and some documents and
presented them to Obasanjo, who assured
them that he was going to take their
grievances to the Federal Government after
appealing to them to stop the killings.
“Obasanjo took those documents to the
Villa. Since then nothing was done. But
Obasanjo told me that he has done his
best.
Delay at the Villa
“I made a second attempt by involving Dr.
Dati Ahmed, who was a teacher to the
founder of Boko Haram, late Mohammed
Yusuf. We brought him to Abuja to mediate
with the Federal Government on behalf of
the sect.
“We went to see the then National Security
Adviser, NSA, to the President, late General
Owoye Azazi. He kept us waiting in his
office for over three hours only to tell us
that after consulting with security chiefs, he
was told that the Boko Haram members
have run out of weapons.
“Therefore, the sect can be overrun by the
Federal Government and so there was no
need to meet with them. At the end of the
day, Dr. Ahmed was frustrated and we all
left Abuja.
… opting out of amnesty c’ttee
“We have done this twice and was
frustrated, only for me to wake up one day
to hear that my name was among the 26-
member Presidential Committee on Amnesty
for Boko Haram members.
“So when I turned it down, some people
called me names and said many things
about me, including the fact that I am not a
patriotic Nigerian.
“I cannot think of any patriotism other than
the efforts I have made. It took me three
months to make contact with leaders of
Boko Haram.
“It is not an easy thing because you are
dealing with a killer group that even goes
after their members.
“When you give a committee two weeks, it
is not going to work. I have done my best
and I know the committee will not achieve
anything.”

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