BOKO HARAM ANOUNCES CEASE FIRE, NAMES BUHARI LEADER OF NEGOTIATING TEAM

Buhari

I told you guys earlier in the day that E247 reported that Boko Haram was planning to announce a cease fire, well they have. It was on the 8 o'clock news on AIT, but read the report below according to Vanguard;

Leadership of  Boko Haram, has named the former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), among six prominent northerners, to mediate between them and the Federal Government. Spokesman and Second-in-Commandof the group, Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulazeez, who is also the Second-in-Command (Amir) to their leader, Imam Abubakar Shekau, made the group’s intention known in a tele-conference with journalists in Maiduguri today. The Federal Government in a statement by Dr. Reuben Abati, Presidential Spokesman, today, welcomed the move.

Boko Haram, however, said that for the group to observe ceasefire, the Federal Government must heed its demand by arresting and prosecuting the former Governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff.

Mediators
Abdulazeez said other people, who could mediate with the government if its conditions were met, include Dr. Shettima Ali Monguno, former Yobe State governor, Bukar Abba Ibrahim, Ambassador Gaji Galtimari and Hajia Aisha Wakil and her husband, Alkali Wakil.

Dialogue venue
He insisted, however, that such dialogue must not take place in Nigeria, but Saudi Arabia.
According to him, the choice of Saudi Arabia was informed by the insincerity of the Nigeria government for dialogue and its betrayal in the past. Abdulazeez insisted that for the group to ceasefire completely, the government must not only apprehend, but prosecute Senator Modu Sheriff according to the laws of the land as well as compensate members of the group and rebuild their places of worship destroyed during 2009 uprising, which led to the alleged murder of their leader, Mohammed Yusuf.

Conditions for ceasefire.

The Boko Haram spokesman further stressed that, all their members, who were arrested and are under the custody of security agencies must be released immediately, just as their wives and children who were displaced following the crises should be rehabilitated into the society to allow room for the much talked about dialogue with the Federal Government.

Commenting on the series of recent killings and destruction of property in Maiduguri, Abu Abdulazeez dissociated Boko Haram from the action, saying such attacks were not only politically-motivated, but carried out by those seeking power in the Borno Emirate council or in government.

He stressed that recent killings and destructions in Maiduguri were against the ideology of the sect, which he said was fighting the cause of Allah.

Abdulazeez also said the burning of old and newly-constructed primary schools witnessed across the state were not carried out by the sect, insisting that they were perpetrated by aggrieved politicians who were denied contracts by the state government. Last February, the group had also nominated Monguno, Bukar Ibrahim, Aisha Wakil and Jinadu Idris as part of a team to mediate between it and the Federal Government, but the negotiation never got off.

Buhari reacts
Thursday, was, however, the first time the group would be proposing Gen. Buhari as part of a mediation team between it and the Federal Government. Buhari, who returned to Kaduna from Daura, Katsina State, yesterday evening, said he was yet to be formally contacted on the development.

Buba Galadima, an associate of the former Head of State speaking on behalf of the General said: “His first reaction is that he has not heard about this news and nobody has contacted him.

“He said he wouldn’t want to say anything on this matter that has not yet been authenticated, but he remains prayerful that peace and tranquility will return to this country.”