FG combs Northern states for Boko Haram •Why govt won’t grant amnesty •We’ll not overlook Abuja explosion -Jonathan

THE Federal Government has ordered a thorough security search around all local governments of the North in a bid to fish out elements of the Boko Haram sect, which has claimed responsibility for a spate of bomb blasts in the northern part of the country in recent times.

Sources in the administration told the Nigerian Tribune, on Monday, that operatives of the State Security Service (SSS), the Defence Intelligence and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), were last week given orders to comb all states of the North and ensure that the security agencies are in a good shape to tackle the security challenge posed by the sect.

It was also gathered that the different security agencies had sent detectives to nearly all local governments where the sect is said to be existing.

“The government has discovered that the issue of Boko Haram can no longer be left in the hands of the police. That is why there is a strong directive that everywhere should be combed to ensure the government is in possession of details,” a source said on Monday.

Sources also said that a team of top government officials, scholars and peace development experts, which met at the weekend, had rejected the push to secure amnesty for Boko Haram members.

The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs had said, at the weekend, that the government should consider amnesty for members of the sect.

But sources in Abuja told the Nigerian Tribune that the team of peace development experts concluded that there was no face to the Boko Haram struggle and that their agitation was not only religious but also emotional.

“How do you react to issues of belief, emotion and religion? What are the deliverables to government? What really is the agenda of the Boko Haram struggle? Unlike the Niger Delta struggle, which is economic and has to do with marginalisation and deprivation, the Boko Haram struggle does not seem to have clear cut objectives,” a source said, adding that the report put together on the search for amnesty for the sect had questioned the necessity for it.

“It is a religious rather than an economic agitation, it is not clear what they want and the government is in the dark as to what to offer and what the sect members would give in return,” the source said, adding that: “The committee came to the conclusion that the Boko Haram sect is an arm of the global terrorism group troubling the world and that it should be so treated. If you talk of amnesty, are you saying that people would forgo their beliefs? If they say they don’t believe in Western education, how are you going to change that?”

It was also concluded that if amnesty is granted to the group, other groups could start mushrooming to the extent that all of them would rely on the generous amnesty.

“If it is pushed too far, other groups like the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) could start a sort of trouble and later claim amnesty. That would distort the balance in the Nigerian nation,” the peace experts concluded.

Sources also said that the other security agencies were unhappy with the handling of the last Thursday bomb blast at the Police Headquarters in Abuja.

Their conclusion, according to sources, is that the police have disgraced the security outfits through the unprofessional handling of the bomb issue.

“A number of questions were left unanswered. How did the bomber enter the police headquarters? How did a man with an unmarked vehicle enter the police headquarters without questioning? The police have shown incompetence in protecting themselves,” a source said.

Meanwhile, Presidential Adviser on Amnesty, Mr Kingsley Kuku, declared on Monday that the amnesty programme of the Federal Government had ended, ruling out the prospect of extending it to the Boko Haram and other militant groups.

Speaking with reporters at a ceremony to send about 34 members of the Niger Delta ex-militants to Israel for skills acquisition on modern agriculture, Kuku said the ongoing amnesty was a limited programme which had closed.

He also stated that even Niger Delta militants who failed to lay down arms and embrace the amnesty at the right time were not included in the programme.

According to him, about 26,358 youths have been documented since the proclamation of the amnesty in October 2009 by the late Umaru Yar’Adua and that the number could not be expanded for anybody again.

Kuku disclosed that of the 26,358 youth who were documented for amnesty, 16,000 had gone through demobilisation at Obubra camp and going through various skills acquisition programmes in Nigeria and overseas.

The presidential adviser added that government recognised individual’s right to agitate for amnesty, he explained that it was time state governments, stakeholders and philanthropists began to buy into the programme of empowering youths in their communities.

Kuku said the amnesty was a programme borne out of necessity to address special problem, adding, that “It’s a special programme. That programme can never be politicised. It can never be mixed up with any other issues at all. It is a special programme meant to address a special problem. That has been done.”

On the Niger Delta amnesty programme, he said it had ended, insisting that, “government has taken a position and the position is very clear.

There is nothing like third or fourth phase in this amnesty, because if we have that, there will be fifth and tenth phases. So we will never accept that. This amnesty programme has ended.

“Anywhere in this country, even if today, youths in my town, Arogbo, rise up to say they want amnesty, they are no longer going to be accepted because it was a special programme.

“The solution is simple; it’s not by pushing those agitators to Federal Government amnesty programme because, of course, we are not going to accept them.

“Every state governor also has the power and responsibility of proclaiming some forms of reprieve for anybody or any group of youths in his state and local government.

“So if you grant the reprieve, you develop your own empowerment and development programme for the youth in the various states and give them the so-called amnesty. If it is not amnesty, it is a reprieve, so we can develop them.

“Youths in this country are desirous of empowerment and development. That is why, today, we hear about issues of demands for amnesty.

The truth of the matter is people want engagement; they want empowerment, employment and development.

“So state governments must rise up to their responsibility today, develop youth empowerment and development programme,” Kuku insisted.

The presidential adviser charged the departing youth to be good ambassadors of Nigeria while in Israel and to be disciplined in their conduct and to make maximum use of their training.

In another development, President Goodluck Jona-than, on Monday, said the government would not overlook the explosions which rocked the Force Headquarters in Abuja, last week.

Jonathan made the pledge while receiving a delegation of the family of the late Prime Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, who came to commiserate with him at the State House, Abuja, over the bomb blast.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the late prime minister’s family members, led by Malam Yakubu Tafawa Balewa, were in the State House on a visit to the president, for naming the new Ministry of Foreign Affairs building after their father.

Jonathan said the government was taking steps to strengthen national security, adding that the explosion was an act of terror, which had become a global trend, but gave assurance that his administration was taking steps to ensure the safety of all Nigerians.

The president said naming the Foreign Affairs headquarters building after the late prime minister was not an accident, but “a recognition of his contribution as Nigeria’s first foreign minister.”

He said the action was also to recognise Balewa’s contributions to the development of Nigeria as its first premier.

On plans by the family to establish a foundation in memory of their father, Jonathan advised that they should ensure the appointment of people of integrity, who would keep the good name of the late Tafawa Balewa.

He promised that mausoleum of the late prime miniser would be upgraded, to serve as a suitable tourist attraction for visiting foreign leaders and visitors.

Earlier, Yakubu Balewa had expressed appreciation to Jonathan and spoke of the plans of the family to set up a foundation in memory of their father.