Tight Security as Jonathan Visits Borno, Yobe States Thursday

President Goodluck Jonathan

•States hopeful visit will end Boko Haram attacks

•CAN rejects Sultan’s call for total amnesty

Yemisi Akinsuyi , Muhammadu Bello and Michael Olugbode  with agency report

Preparations were in top gear Wednesday in Borno and Yobe States, reputed to be Boko Haram enclaves, which President Goodluck Jonathan will be visiting today for the first time since he assumed power.

Amidst the security threat occasioned by terror attacks by the Islamist insurgent group that has prevented the president from visiting the states until now, security agents have left nothing to chance to ensure a hitch-free visit for the president during his two-day trip.

The visit is coming shortly after Vice-President Namadi Sambo toured Maiduguri a month ago, and a week after opposition governors under the auspices of the All Progressives Alliance  (APC) held their third meeting in the troubled Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, capping it with a visit to the Monday Market that has been frequently attacked by Boko Haram.
Jonathan’s failure to visit the two states, despite the intractable security challenges that have confronted them, has generated outcry from both the state governments and residents.

However, the governments of Borno and Yobe have expressed optimism that the president’s visit might change the tenor of the anti-terror campaign by the military and hasten the restoration of normalcy in the two states that have been wracked by terrorism since 2009.

Ahead of the president’s visit, nonetheless, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) yesterday expressed surprise at the statement credited to the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, that Boko Haram members should be granted “total amnesty” for the sake of peace in the country.

On the president’s visit, the Yobe State Police Command said it had beefed up security in and around Damaturu, the state capital, ahead of the visit.

The state Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Sanusi Rufa’i, said yesterday in Damaturu: “Teams of riot policemen have been deployed to the state to reinforce the security.
“We are determined and working towards a peaceful and hitch-free presidential visit to the state.”

The commissioner said the command had deployed its personnel to all the nooks and crannies of the state capital, adding: “Although we now enjoy relative peace, we will leave no stone unturned to provide adequate security for the presidential visit and the people.”

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Jonathan, in Damaturu, is scheduled to inaugurate the state university, the dual carriageway ring road, 300 housing units and an ultra-modern hospital.

In Borno, the state government has declared tomorrow (Friday) a work-free day, in order to ensure that the president’ visit is peaceful.

The Borno Government House, it was observed yesterday, commenced the renovation of some public facilities ahead of the visit.

THISDAY gathered that during the president’s visit, the clamour for amnesty for the insurgents would top discussion between Jonathan and critical stakeholders in the two states.

On Tuesday, the sultan and a committee set up by the Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) had advocated amnesty for Boko Haram members, among others, to end the four-year reign of terror in Northern Nigeria.

The president, whose main agenda during the visit is a town hall meeting with stakeholders from both states, is also expected to make a statement on the acceptance or otherwise of the ceasefire which a faction of the deadly sect has offered.
The president is expected to arrive the Maiduguri International Airport today and would be ferried to Damaturu in an air force helicopter.

He is expected to return to Maiduguri in the evening where he will pass the night.
On Friday morning, the president is scheduled to pay a courtesy visit to the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Garbai El-Kanemi, and thereafter inaugurate some projects executed by the state Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima.

Later in the day, the president is expected to end the visit after holding a town hall meeting with members of the Borno Elders Forum, religious and community leaders as well as other stakeholders.
It is at the stakeholders meeting that the issue of amnesty and ceasefire might be addressed.
One of the elders from Borno confided in THISDAY that the people are determined to bring up both issues with the president.

The elder, who preferred anonymity, said without these issues being adequately addressed and a position taken on them, the visit of the president would be futile.
However, CAN has expressed dismay over the sultan’s advocacy that total amnesty should be granted the Islamic militant group for the sake of peace in Nigeria.

In a press release signed by the association’s General Secretary, Dr. Musa Asake, CAN stated that it was highly disappointed that the lives and property of thousands of Christians killed in the North had not touched the heart of the sultan, adding “rather he is calling for amnesty for a bunch of killers.”

CAN wondered what the sultan meant by injustice in relation to the activities of the Boko Haram sect “when members of the group are a bunch of fundamentalists who have killed, maimed, deformed Christians and made orphans and widows of otherwise peaceful and loving families, and who have also displaced people, destroyed businesses and livelihoods in their thousands.”
It said: “Would the sultan sincerely attribute the perpetration of the injustice to Christians?

“If it is injustice, is it not government that should be held accountable? Why would the sect not hold their representatives at the various tiers of government responsible? The sultan should be told that we have since found out that the attacks are primarily targeted at Christians and their churches.

“Who then is suffering injustice? Who needs justice? Christians or those killing and bombing churches?
“The injustice to Christians killed, maimed and rendered helpless by the sect is underscored by the payment of the sum of N100 million to the late sect leader’s family by the Borno State Government without any assistance to any of the Christian victims of Boko Haram.

“Who is going to compensate the families of the victims of the sect? Where is the justice to these Christian victims?”

CAN added that it was worth reminding the sultan that a few days ago, Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram, appeared in a video, claiming responsibility for all the violence, including the ones allegedly committed by suspected criminals.
The Christian body said that Shekau also denied any relationship with Sheikh Muhammad Ibn Abdulazeez, the man who has repeatedly claimed to be Shekarau’s second in command, and who announced the ceasefire.

It noted that Shekau had never talked of injustice, pointing out: “He has been unremorsefully insistent on the fact that they will not relent until Nigeria is made an Islamic nation.

“We need to also remind the sultan and others on the same page with him that terrorism is not about justice. It is about ideology.

“In this case, Boko Haram is founded on the premise of extremist Islamic ideology. It is therefore mischievous for those who understand this to hoodwink the president into actions that would be futile in the end.

“We believe that for the talk about amnesty to hold water, the Islamist militant group must first of all renounce their extremist ideology and embrace the ceasefire plan.”
CAN held the view that what the president should do is to first give the sect members a deadline within which they should organise a ceasefire, failing which the sect members should be confronted vigorously, in line with what was done to the Niger Delta militants who refused the amnesty offered by the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua.

“Otherwise, how can government grant amnesty to faceless people?” asked CAN.
The body said that it was puzzled by the amnesty contemplated by the sultan, adding: “we therefore say categorically that we reject any offer of amnesty for members of the Boko Haram sect. We ask government to do same.
“One group of people cannot continue to pay the price for one Nigeria. We must sit together as brothers and discuss issues.”