The Boko Haram sect has ruled out going into talks with the Federal Government unless its conditions for peace were met.
Speaking during an interview on the Hausa service of Radio
France International (RFI), monitored in Sokoto, Aliyu Tashaku, who
claims to be one of the leaders of the sect, Monday said he doubted the
Federal Government’s sincerity in the talks because some of their
members were still in detention just as he said others were still being
arrested.
Tashaku who expressed reservations about the constitution of the
Presidential Amnesty Committee for Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of
Security Challenges in the North, also requested the reconstruction of
the sect’s mosques and members’ houses demolished by security
operatives, adding that members of the Boko Haram sect should be allowed
to perform their religious obligations like other adherents of other
faith.
He said once all these requests are acceded to by the Federal
Government including withdrawal of soldiers from their religious
centres, the sect’s leader, Sheik Abubakar Shekau, would come out and
give their commitment to the negotiation process.
He explained that the sect decided to meet with the amnesty committee
because it believed there was a plot against Muslims and the north in
general.
“In the first instance, the Boko Haram sect opened up to the
amnesty committee because we realised that some members of the committee
are men of integrity who will stand on the path of truth and ensure
justice and fairness,” he said.
Tashaku also accused the authorities of discrimination in handling
the security challenges in the country and cited the example of the
massacre of policemen in Nasarawa State last week which he said the
Federal Government had not taken action against the perpetrators of the
killing.
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