BOKO HARAM ISSUES CONDITIONS FOR PEACE!

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.