Some prominent northerners including the former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Mohammed Uwais, have asked the President -elect, Muhammadu Buhari to declare amnesty for Boko Haram insurgents when he officially becomes president on May 29.
The Islamist sect group has killed over 10,000 people and has displaced millions in its six years of violent campaign for an Islamist state.
The call for amnesty was 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 2015 Project,” in Abuja yesterday.
The 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.
The leaders also urged 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’’.
The communiqué also called ‘’for the establishment of a special economic programme for the affected states of the North-East, focusing on rehabilitation, resettlement and reconstruction,’’ as well as on the need for ‘’the governors of the North-East States and indeed of the entire North, on the necessity for a blueprint that addresses the issues of vocational and skills-acquisition education for the youths.’’
Among those who participated in the conference were the National Security Adviser, NSA, Col Sambo Dasuki, rtd, (represented by Ambassador C.L. Olaseinde); the Secretary, Borno State Elders’ Forum, BSEF, Dr Bulama Gubio (who represented Governor Kashim Shettima); Dr. Zakariya Ousmane Ramadene of N’djamena, Chad. Prof. Abubakar Momoh, DG, Electoral Institute, INEC, Abuja and Professor Habu Galadima, Director of Research, NIPSS, Jos, Plateau State.