Tell Magazine

Shehu Sani, president of the Kaduna-based Civil Rights Congress, CRC, is not known to hide his feelings. He is among a few Nigerians who can talk truth to power. And that is just what he did recently while speaking in the wake of the clarion calls by some prominent northerners that amnesty should be granted to members of Boko Haram and the consequent setting up of a technical committee to consider the proposal. Sani described the proposed amnesty as a charade. Thus he believes it will not work. As if to say the oracle has spoken, Abubakar Shekau, leader of the sect, shortly thereafter rejected the proposed amnesty by the federal government. In fact, Shekau full of disdain said it should be the sect that should be talking of granting amnesty to the government.

After this lambast from Shekau, the Sunday PUNCH quoted Sani thus: “If you remember, I said the sect is very likely to reject the proposal before they did. They did so because the whole thing (amnesty) is programmed to defraud the state; some individuals have worked out a carefully laid out plan to make money. The sect has never made any monetary demand, so enticing them with money will simply not work. The process of finding lasting peace should begin with building confidence.” Surprisingly, it is not only Sani that is of this view, a front-line northern politician, Junaid Mohammed, blamed the rejection of amnesty on some northern elders and the government. According to him, “There was no way it (amnesty) would have worked because the whole thing was about the so-called northern elders, who are agents of the Federal Government, getting money from the government. They don’t represent anybody in the North but themselves.”

Considering the latest step the government has taken by empanelling a 26-man group to engage Boko Haram, it is doubtful whether the Presidency saw these comments. If they did, then they must have dismissed them with a wave of the hand. And that is why it may already be road closed for the panel. Sani who was named as a member of the panel has rejected his nomination by government. His reasons: one, government did not consult him before announcing his name; two, he thinks government is putting the cart before the horse. The CRC president believes government should first gain the confidence of the sect through consultation before embarking on dialogue and offering amnesty. Furthermore, Sani claims none of the members of the amnesty panel, as constituted at the moment, can bring the insurgents out of their hideouts. He mentioned three people who command the respect of the insurgents. They are Ahmed Shilkida, Hamza Idris and Mustapha Zanna. Sani declared to The PUNCH that “If these three people are not part of the process it is going to be difficult for this group (Boko Haram) to embrace this committee.”  In as much as he would love to contribute to peace and an end to violence, Sani does not want to be part of a fruitless exercise.

That is a very profound statement, especially against the backdrop of the opposition of the Christian Association of Nigeria to the offer of amnesty to the sect. The association regards the sect’s members as common criminals who have killed thousands of innocent people since their campaign began. The association wonders on what grounds government is granting amnesty. Well, President Goodluck Jonathan is surely faced with a dilemma. Having decided on the choice of dialogue and amnesty however, there should be no retreat. What needs to be done is a continuous fine-tuning of the process and more consultation, if necessary like Sani has suggested. Those opposed to dialogue and amnesty only need to go down memory lane and they would discover that majority of conflicts, including world wars, always end on the conference table.

Holding Truth to Ransom in Lagos

On Monday, April 15, Umar Manko, commissioner of police, Lagos State, seized the opportunity of the parade of the kidnappers who abducted the octogenarian mother of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala from her home in Ogwashi-uku to assure residents of Lagos that there was no upsurge in kidnapping in the state. Not a few wondered why it was the business of Manko to parade alleged perpetrators of a crime carried out in Delta State.  As if to put a lie to Manko’s position that Lagos is still kidnappers-free, 24 hours later, kidnappers in commando style grabbed Kehinde Bamigbetan, chairman of the Ejigbo Local Council Development area. And they are asking for a ransom of $1 million. In local currency, that is some N158 million. The police are assuring Nigerians that all hands are on deck to nab those who abducted Bamigbetan.

A few days before the chairman was kidnapped however, Dominic Nwaezego, another Lagos resident, was luckier. Soldiers of the 9 Brigade, Nigerian Army, rescued him from the hoodlums who kidnapped him. They were led by his nephew who thought Nwaezego’s son living abroad and who visited home recently had brought plenty of money for his father. It was their bad day, however, as the punctured tyre of their getaway car caught the attention of the soldiers, who stopped them. And in late March, Yemi Owadokun, a staff of MTN, the telecommunication giant, was kidnapped in another suburb of Lagos. Highbrow Victoria Island has not been spared too as a Briton working with a geophysics French company was abducted near his home. The Briton spent four days in the hands of his captives. It is not known if any ransom was paid. Owadokun spent 10 days in captivity after his people reportedly coughed out N2 million ransom. All these cases happened in the last several weeks. The belief is that several kidnappings are never reported because the families of victims quietly negotiate with the hoodlums.

Thus Manko’s claim that there is no upsurge in kidnappers’ activities in the state may not be the whole truth. The assurance being given by the police boss is understandable though, since Lagos is the nerve-centre of the nation’s economy. And a seeming upsurge in kidnapping for ransom is surely bad for business. However, kidnapping in the state or anywhere in the country is not a menace that can be easily wished away. It has not only become lucrative but is less hazardous than armed robbery. A situation where victims’ families negotiate with kidnappers without involving the police is a loud statement as to the hard road the security agencies have to travel to end the scourge. Considering the fact that AK-47 rifles have become mere toys in the hands of criminals, a more proactive measure is needed to stamp out kidnapping, which is another phase of our society’s slide into anarchy.