Balarabe urges FG to dialogue with Boko Haram leaders

Posted: Thursday, July 7, 2011

Former governor of old Kaduna State,  Alhaji Balarabe Musa has advised the Federal Government to dialogue with members of the militant Islamic sect, Boko Haram. He said in Kaduna on Tuesday that government should adopt "practical strategies aimed at ending the crisis by engaging the members politically".
Musa advised government to accept making mistakes in the way it handled the problem initially.  "I am canvassing for the use of dialogue and political resolution for two reasons. Firstly, the world over, such crises are resolved through dialogue and secondly, the use of force doesn't solve crisis."  He cited the amicable resolution of the country's civil war in 1966 and the Niger Delta crisis in 2008 to buttress his assertion. Musa traced the genesis of the Boko Haram saga to the extra-judicial killing of the leaders of the sect by the police as well as the shooting of its members during a funeral procession by the special police task force, "Operation Flush" in Maiduguri.
He also attributed the escalation of the crisis to the "declaration of war" on the sect by the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Hafiz Ringim, and the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, "at a time when entreaties were being made to end the problem".  Musa suggested that government should return the confiscated land to the sect and rebuild its school and mosque as a confidence building mechanism, without any further threats to their lives and property.   "
After this, government can engage them in dialogue to end the security problem; afterall, history teaches us that no battle had been fought with a faceless group or guerrilla and won successfully.  "
This is because the fight is in the mind and not in the size of the body or amount of weapons." In a related development, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) said it was convening a conference to address the security problems threatening the unity, stability and progress of the country.
The Secretary of the forum, retired Col. Musa Shehu said in Kaduna that the Board of Trustees and National Executive Committee of the organisation had resolved at its June 30 meeting to saddle its security committee with the assignment.  He said members of the forum with security background would soon proffer a solution to the problem of insecurity, to strengthen national unity and foster growth.