From: Nowa Omoigui <nowa_o@yahoo.com>
Date: 5 February 2012 13:59
Subject: NigerianID | Boko Haram may dialogue with FG through foreign mediator
To: defsec@egroups.com
TRIBUNE
Boko Haram may dialogue with FG through foreign mediator
•As Igbo split over evacuation from the North
•Sect won't break Nigeria –Abubakar Umar
Written by Idowu Samuel, Hassan Ibrahim and Kola Oyelere
Sunday, 05 February 2012
There are indications that the dreaded Boko Haram sect may enter into dialogue with the Federal Government, if a third party country is involved, Sunday Tribune has reliably gathered.
A very competent source within the administration, who has been working on creating a link and dialogue path with the sect, told Sunday Tribune that the sect leadership appeared to distrust the government and established Islamic leaders in the country, hence its hint of preference for a foreign mediator.
From all first class traditional rulers and sultan to elected political leaders from the North, the sect reportedly considers the Northern leadership as agents of the Federal Government who cannot be trusted to represent it in negotiated settlement with the government.
Apart from the issue of a third party country, it was further learnt that the sect is insisting on holding the negotiation outside the country, probably in a Gulf Arab country, with Qatar Emirate being most prominent.
Qatar had hosted many dialogue sessions between rebels and mainstream governments in the past with the Darfur peace talks between the Sudanese government and the Darfur Peace and Justice Movement as the most prominent.
While it was not clear whether the Qatari government is aware of the development, investigations also revealed that many within the nation's security circles are opposed to the possibility of a third party involvement, describing the low level insurgency as an internal affair of the country.
Findings, however, showed that there is a broad agreement on the need for possible negotiation with the sect, especially as many foreign friends of the administration are said to have advised in that direction, citing the upcoming negotiation between the Americans and the Afganistan Taliban after a decade of war.
A diplomat in Abuja, reacting to the hint of a third country negotiator, noted further that even if the Nigerian government was opposed to such an idea, the nation could experiment with the services of an international mediator.
" The sect may be afraid to come out. But a foreign mediator can be engaged with a guarantee of safety for the participants," he said.
Sunday Tribune learnt that the most serious impediment to possible dialogue is the issue of safety and trust based on recent experiences such as a recent allegation by the sect that the Federal Government betrayed it over the issue of dialogue.
"There has to be dialogue, and the framework for engagement has to be defined," said Mustapha Zanna, who was a lawyer for Boko Haram in 2009 and has also represented former leader, the Mohammed Yusuf's family.
Zanna, who spoke to a foreign news agency recently, said those willing to take part in dialogue ought to have guarantee that they would not be arrested.
"While the Chief of Army Staff is saying we will crush them, you are on the other hand calling them to come over for dialogue. It doesn't make sense," Zanna said.
Findings within the establishment, however, showed that two strong factions had emerged, with one preferring harsh military action to crush the sect and the other advocating a mixture of dialogue and strong arm tactics in dealing with the sect.
President Goodluck Jonathan had reflected on the views of both camps recently when he hinted at likely negotiation on certain conditions, while also justifying continued military action against the sect.
Meanwhile, The call by the apex Igbo socio-political organisation, Ohanaeze Nd'Igbo, for the Igbo to quit the North has split the race as the elected leaders of the zone disagreed with the cultural body, describing the move as capable of destroying Igbo's decades of efforts to integrate into mainstream Nigeria.
In the wake of the recent Kano violence, both the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and some state wings of Ohanaeze Nd'Igbo had insisted on the Igbo quitting the North and resettling in their region and other less-hostile parts of the South.
Kano State chapter of Onahaneze Nd'Igbo had issued a statement soon after the attacks, calling for evacuation of the Igbo as, according to the group, the Boko Haram sect had an agenda to kill the Igbo across the Northern states.
"Ohanaeze Nd'Igbo, Kano, is convinced that there is a planned jihad on non-natives in Kano, particularly, the Igbo. Security report reaching us indicates that there is a serious plot by the Islamic terrorist group to invade Sabon Gari Kano, an enclave predominantly dominated by the Igbo.
"We are also aware that this Islamic group, serving the interest of some Islamic clerics, Northern traditional rulers and ruthless politicians, has a big plan to bomb churches, public places, hotels and selected private homes within Sabon Gari Kano.
"There is no gainsaying that our people are now scared. The Igbo resident in Kano are living with naked fear. Though there are few of us who may like to stay and defend ourselves, the majority of us, particularly, women and children, numbering over three million, are jostling to leave the North (Kano) because unfolding events indicate that the North (Kano) is no longer safe for Easterners," the statement stated.
The release was echoed by MASSOB leader, Ralph Nwazuruike, who had since the Kano violence been advocating immediate returns of Nd'Igbo to their home base with a call on South-Eastern governors to provide means of transportation and security to evacuate the Igbo from the North.
Top political leaders in the zone have, however, angrily rebuffed the call, calling it an over-reaction and a step likely to revert the Igbo to the post-civil war era.
Governor Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State described the call as misguided, retrogressive and a clamour for the disintegration of Nigeria, pointing out that God created Nigerians to live anywhere in the country and not only in Igboland.
"Not even in the most civilised economy or society do you have an environment totally free of crime, but I want to remind you that the number of Nd'Igbo, people of the South-East, who have died in the Northern states are not as many as the number of people of Ebonyi who died in Ezillo alone. So, where do you run to that you will never have another crisis?" the governor asked.
Chief Elechi noted that "the call is to put to an end to the Nigerian nation. I say no to that. Nigeria is for all of us and not for some of us. I want to advise us to be closer to the security agents and let them know what is going on in their environment. If you have to come home, what about the killings in our own state?"
The same position was taken by Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, who, after a condolence visit to Kano, described those clamouring for evacuation as misrepresenting the reality on ground.
He added that the Igbo had interest to protect in all parts of the federation.
Sunday Tribune investigations revealed that the political establishment in Igboland had discovered that MASSOB was behind the agitation, in pursuance of its goal of creating a Biafran state through non-violent means.
MASSOB was said to have seen the Kano incident as a platform to pursue its goal, leading to its branches in the North providing vehicles and logistics for the Igbo willing to return to Igboland.
This fact was reportedly responsible for the renewed monitoring of MASSOB by security agencies as well as the refusal of the Eastern state governors to support evacuation of their brethren from the North.
According a top federal political office holder from the zone who sought anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue,"that call was suicidal, especially for many hardworking Igbo businessmen who had invested billions of naira in many Northern cities.
"One can relocate to safer parts of the North like the North-Central. But returning to the East is not an option, especially in this globalised world."
Only at the weekend, the Igbo Community Association (ICA), Kano State chapter, called on the Igbo resident in the state to disregard the statement urging them to leave Kano, saying they should remain because "there is no cause for alarm."
According to a statement jointly signed by Igwe John Nnaji and Chief Leonard Nwosu; Onyendu Nd'Igbo of Kano and President General of Igbo, respectively, a copy of which was made available to Sunday Tribune, "we, the entire leadership of Igbo Community Association (ICA), Kano State chapter, wishes to distant ourselves from the call by one Mr. Tobia Idika who is urging the Igbo to leave Kano."
The ICA added that, "we stand by the resolution of South-East governors and political leaders who said Igbo should remain calm; that they believed in the corporate entity of Nigeria."
Meanwhile, DESPITE calls for people in Nigeria to relocate to their various regions due to attacks by the Boko Haram sect, a former military governor of Kaduna State, Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (rtd) has said that the Nigeria nation cannot break up as a result of the crisis.
He said this in a statement made available to journalists in Kaduna on Saturday.
He noted that, "given the spread and depth of our integration in the country, it is futile to expect Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba or any ethnic group to relocate easily or peacefully to their ancestral lands, even if Nigeria breaks up, because many things in life are irrsversible."
Umar also added that there are many issues that the Boko Haram insurgency had thrown up which could not be easily addressed while some had no solutions at all.
"For example, Boko Haram (members) say their prime goal is to impose Shari'a law throughout Northern Nigeria. In other words, they are seeking to dismantle this country as we know it and to create another in which they alone will rule. But we have also been told that they want to eradicate decadence, corruption and injustice in our polity, and so on.
"Yet, whatever it is that Boko Haram (members) want to achieve or create, one thing they seem to be doing rather well now is setting the various groups in Nigeria against one another.
"One day, Boko Haram will say they are killing Christians because Christians are killing Muslims; another day, they will say they will drive Southerners out of the North because Southerners are sending Northerners out of the South. At another day, Boko Haram (members) would say they are fighting the government because government leaders and agents are corrupt and unjust, etc. After that, they will stand aside and watch with glee as the different groups engage each other in mutual blame and recrimination.
"Despite all this, what is clear and what we all see is that Boko Haram remains on the offensive and their bombs do not discriminate between friends and foe; notwithstanding their propaganda. And in the face of the general climate of fear and mistrust, people respond in ways that are neither calm nor measured, precisely the type of reaction that pleases Boko Haram. This has to change. People of goodwill everywhere must beware of the nature of the problems we are facing and should say or do nothing that will help the aggressor.
"Religious leaders, leaders of ethnic or regional groups and politicians at all levels should step back and ponder the role they wittingly or unwittingly have played in the successes Boko Haram has recorded in it's bloody campaign to destabilize Nigeria. One particularly unhelpful reaction came from certain Igbo leaders who advised their kinsmen in the wake of the onslaught by Boko Haram to move out of Northern Nigeria and to return to their ancestral homes in the East," he said.
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