The Boko Haram Amnesty Conundrum

File photo: Members of Boko Haram splinter group during a news conference in Maiduguri, recently where they insisted on a cease-fire. Photo: Vanguard Newspaper.

In a bid to end terror, the Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan may be on the verge of granting amnesty to the Boko Haram insurgent group at the behest of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), who has recently met with him to discuss this sensitive issue (Viewpoint, 2013). Advocates of amnesty for Boko Haram are pointing to the Niger Delta precedent to justify this call, which is clearly symptomatic of the frustration of the governing elite in the face of a stalemated war that has no borders, or a specific target or a discernible, civilized objective. Other than the abolition of western education and the imposition of Sharia in the North, the group is not saying anything worthwhile; even these demands are as idiotic as they are unreasonable. How do we begin to turn back the clock of civilization because of a few misguided armed Marabouts?

Amnesty appears to be an easy way out of a crisis that appears to be turning gradually into a dilemma like is the case of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq where living with terror has become a way of life. It was once a virtual impossibility to imagine that Nigerians would be living with terror, but that is now a terrifying reality. The ruling elite have themselves to blame for this embarrassing war. It was stated, “There’s no shred of evidence that the Jonathan administration, despite its lackadaisical approach, is not doing its best in the fight against terrorism and other violent crimes”  (Viewpoint, 2013).

The escalation of violence of all types such as: armed robberies, kidnappings, ritual killings, domestic violence, and Facebook-related attacks and terrorism are a clear indication that its best efforts are not enough. It is time to look at other alternatives that have a different impact. How this insidious evil became a murderous terror machine, that it is today under our eyes, is a question the nation’s ruling elite is unable to answer; the option of a general amnesty may be a vivid testimony of the growing exasperation of the elite with an evil it created but could no longer controls.

Since the elimination of the leader, the group has splintered into different dangerous factions under faceless leaders with varying and conflicting agendas, but all united under the banner of political Sharia. Today, having developed into a well-funded international terror organization, we have no idea who controls which of its various tentacles, but one thing is certain, Boko Haram has managed to hook up with Al- Qaeda, in the Islamic Maghreb, AQIM, with dire implications for the security of the sub-Sahara, apart from Nigeria.

With Boko Haram so fragmented and dangerously polarized along ideological, theological and political divides, including some criminal elements here and there, it has become a loose cannon that threatens everybody but themselves (Viewpoint, 2013). Running an unprecedented violent campaign against internal rivals, previously the police for an alleged injustice and now against everyone in sight, Boko Haram is the biggest agent of destabilization in the country apart from corruption in high places.

Now, the argument for Boko Haram’s amnesty cannot stand on the logic of the one granted to the Niger Delta militants because both armed groups may have levied war against their country, Nigeria. Their individual motives and corporate objectives are as different as their tactics and targets. Boko Haram turned their guns against innocent worshippers mostly in churches, and a few mosques, bombed police and military targets and caused massive blood bathe through their reckless attacks on public buildings, residential districts, public and major business outlets, and industrial installations (Viewpoint, 2013).

Generally, Boko Haram is a vampire on the loose whose objective is not just to Islamize Nigeria, but to rid it totally of western influence. The group is now present in every part of Nigeria, getting set for a bloody campaign down South.

In contrast, the Niger Delta militants are environmental activists and armed campaigners for economic justice for the alienated people of the Delta region, whose lands have been destroyed by decades of oil exploration without any visible positive impact on the people’s welfare. The wild boys of Niger Delta never threatened those outside the realm of their agitation. They didn’t bring religious or tribal sentiments into their campaign or align with foreign terror groups to levy war against their own people to attain some mindless, esoteric objectives (Viewpoint, 2013).

Boko Haram and the Niger Delta militants are two of a kind but unique in their different colorations. It is known who the Delta militants are, but we don’t know the faces behind Boko Haram. This is why the government is unable to negotiate with them; nobody can justify an amnesty for a group that is not committed to dialogue. If Boko Haram’s body language speaks of peace, the Federal Government, tired of battle with the recalcitrant Islamic militants, would have no choice than to bring amnesty as bait on the table (Viewpoint, 2013). Amnesty is justifiable under an atmosphere during a carrot and stick situation, not when one side to the conflict is invisible, implacable and unwilling to accept anything but its own terms, which in the case of Boko Haram, cannot stand on any civilized logic (Viewpoint, 2013).

Nevertheless, if the northern leaders strongly believe amnesty is a way out at this stage, it is worth giving a try. However, beyond insisting on amnesty for the terror group, the NEF must give some form of assurance that it would actively participate in enforcing the peace we all expect.

Excerpts from ‘The Boko Haram Amnesty Conundrum’ by Rev. Chris Okotie ( a leading Nigerian televangelist and the pastor of the Household of God Church International Ministries, a Pentecostal congregation in Lagos)

"The Boko Haram Amnesty Conundrum." Viewpoint 20 Apr. 2013: n. pag. Web.