Tag Archives: Northern Elders

Grant Amnesty To Boko Haram – Northern Elders Tell Buhari

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Some prominent northerners including the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Mohammed Uwais and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe and former Nigerian Ambassador to the United Nations, Ibrahim Gambari have asked the President -elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, rtd, declare amnesty for Boko Haram Insurgents when he takes over power on May 29.

However, Second Republic lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, dismissed the call saying it would amount to rewarding criminals instead of punishing them for crimes against humanity.

They also asked Buhari to give priority attention to the special economic programmes for the North East geopolitical zone which had been ravaged by the Boko Haram terrorists, just as they warned against the scrapping of the on-going amnesty programme for ex-militants in the Niger Delta region.

These were contained in a communiqué issued after a two-day conference with the theme: “Security and Governance Challenges in Africa’s largest Democracy by the Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development, SCDDD, as part of its “Nigeria Beyond 12015 Project,” in Abuja yesterday.

Those communiqué was signed by Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, founder of Savannah Centre, Major General Ishola Williams, Executive Secretary, Pan-African Strategic and Peace Research Group, PAN-AFSTRAG, Justice Mohammed Uwais (chairman of the occasion) and Ambassador Abdullahi Omaki, executive director of the Savannah Centre.

They also called on the Federal Government ‘’to expedite action on the compensation of victims of Boko Haram terrorism and insurgency through the established and funded Victims’ Support Fund,’’ and for urgent priority attention to the special economic programme for the North East by the incoming administration, just as they condemned ‘’the carnage, devastations and displacements, which the Boko Haram group inflicted upon many innocent Nigerians in the north east region.’’

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You Must Be Fair To All Nigerians, Northern Elders Tell Buhari

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Northern Elders Fo­rum (NEF) yester­day told the Pres­ident-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in an unmistakeable term that he must be fair and just to all Nigerians if he wants to suc­ceed as President .

Speaking during a visit by the group to the president-elect in Abuja at the weekend, former Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Alhaji Maitama Sule said the President-elect must establish firmly, a good justice system that would be of benefit to Nigerians irre­spective of where they come from . He counseled that the country will be governed well with a good justice sys­tem in place.

But Buhari, for the second time in a week sued for pa­tience with his incoming gov­ernment, saying the rot in the system was deep and huge. He claimed that the coun­try was facing a massive financial crunch and infra­structural strait, a situation he said his government, would need time to fix .

Attributing his election to divine intervention in the af­fairs of the nation, Amb Sule said: “Mr President-elect sir, we know what we have gone through, I will ask you not to discriminate against any part of Nigeria but I’ll urge you to do justice to all part of Ni­geria. Justice that will bring about peace and stability, that’ll lead to the develop­ment of Nigeria.

“Sir, it is easy, I know it was easy when you were a military leader and what made it easy was justice. With justice, you can rule Nigeria well. Justice is the key, irrespective of tribe, reli­gion and race; justice must be done to whosoever deserves it. Power can remain in the hands of an infidel if he’s just and fair but it will not remain in the hands of a believer if he is unfair and unjust.

Lamenting that whereas Nigeria has been lucky in the past 16 years to earn huge revenues from sales of oil, the president-elect said the country’s economy and in­frastructure have been in dis­tress. He contended that the situation has been responsi­ble for myriads of challenges that the nation was currently facing .

Credit: sunnewsonline