Amnesty Committee Offers to Meet with Boko Haram in any Country

Minister of Special Duties and Chairman of Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North, Alhaji Kabiru Turaki, yesterday expressed the readiness of  the committee to meet with the Boko Haram sect in any country in the world to ensure peaceful resolution of the conflict that has ravaged parts of the North.


Speaking during a stakeholders’ meeting at Sultan Maccido Institute of Quran and General Studies in Sokoto, Turaki said the committee was committed to the peaceful resolution of the conflict that had caused untold hardship to many families in the region.

According to him, the committee is ready to meet with the leadership of the sect in any country they choose.

"As you are aware, the Boko Haram insurgency has become intractable and caused untold pains to many families who lost their loved ones. So, we are determined to make sacrifice and go to any length to succeed in our assignment.

"Thus, if the Boko Haram sect agrees that we should meet, then we are ready to meet with them in any country they choose for us to meet them. We are ready to meet them in Saudi Arabia, Chad, Niger Republic and in fact anywhere they want us to meet and discuss," he said.

Turaki explained that the committee comprised men of integrity, who were determined to be fair and just to the sect without any discrimination.

"We know the real challenges ahead and members of the committee are sincere and will work with the utmost fear of Allah to ensure success of our assignment", he added.

The minister appealed to Islamic scholars and those in contact with the members of the Boko Haram to assist the committee in facilitating contact with the insurgents in order to chart a way for the peaceful resolution of the conflict.

On the declaration of state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States, Turaki said  it would not affect the work of the committee.

According to him, despite the ongoing fight against terrorism in  Afghanistan, efforts are still being made by government of Afghanistan and the United States for dialogue with the Talibans.

"The declaration of state of emergency will not stop our work. We will continue to work towards opening channels of communication with Boko Haram sect. This is because despite the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan, there are efforts being made at dialogue with the Talibans",  Turaki stressed.

Turaki, at another forum yesterday, also blamed the failure of leadership to invest in agriculture and entrepreneurship for the violence in the north.

Speaking when members of the amnesty committee paid a courtesy call on Sokoto State Governor, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko, in his office, he said the failure of the leadership to invest in entrepreneurship and agriculture created an army of idle youths who became willing tools in the hands of nefarious individuals to cause violence in the north.

"One of the problems we have in the country, especially in the north, is the failure of the leadership to give priority to two very important sectors of agriculture and entrepreneurship. We have an army of unemployed and redundant youths and because of this therefore, they become easy tools in the hands of rabble rousers and unpatriotic elements.

"Thus, agriculture and entrepreneurship are two areas that create wealth and when you create wealth, you fight poverty and when you eradicate poverty, you reduce redundancy and joblessness", he added.

Turaki said part of the mandate of the committee was not only to make sure that people involved in the crisis were engaged in meaningful dialogue but also to look at means of advising government to support victims of the conflict.

He stated that the support would entail not only rehabilitation, but would go further to include  providing opportunities for people to become useful to the society. 

He expressed “hope that at the end of the interaction, we will be able to address issues that have been underlying factors to the intractable problems that has bedevilled the north".

In his remark,  Wamakko, said dialogue was the only way out of the current security challenges bedevilling the country.