Crowd gathers outside an area where a bomb was planted at a Christian church in Nigeria near the capital of Abuja. The Boko Haram group has claimed responsibility., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Boko Haram ceasefire plan soon, says minister
Posted by: Yusuf Alli, Abuja
The Nation, Nigeria
•DHQ team for Yobe
The Minister of Special Duties, Alhaji Kabiru Turaki yesterday said the Federal Government is having a ceasefire understanding with the mainstream Boko Haram led by the late Mohammed Yusuf.
He said the government wasworking on broader terms for the ceasefire and will unfold it soon.
Turaki, who spoke with our correspondent, yesterday said no formal agreement had been signed with Boko Haram.
He said: “We have reached an understanding with them (Boko Haram) for ceasefire, which they have already directed and which we have accepted.
“We are working on the formal agreement which will follow in due course.”
Asked about which of the factions of Boko Haram the government is discussing with, the Minister said: “It is with the mainstream Yusuf. We are working on the broader terms now and will announce to the world in due course.”
A statement by the spokesman for Defence Headquarters, Brig-Gen. Chris Olukolade, said a delegation led by the Chief of Research and Development in the Defence Headquarters had been sent to Yobe to find out how no fewer than 22 pupils were killed.
The statement said: “A fact-finding team of senior officers from the Defence Headquarters is in Yobe State for an on-the-spot assessment of the deployment of troops of the Joint Task Force in the State.
“The team is to pay particular attention to the security circumstances around the incidence of the attack on the Government Secondary School, Mamudo near Potiskum during the weekend.
“Led by the Chief of Research and Development in the Defence Headquarters, the team is visiting troops deployed in remote locations in Yobe State to verify the effectiveness of patrols and cordon and search operations directed at forestalling any further breach of security and tracking down perpetrators of the weekend attack.
“The team is expected to brief the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ibrahim Ola Sa’ad in respect of any requirement for additional troops and logistics for the operation in Yobe State.”
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called on Boko Haram members to disarm totally and permanently in the spirit of the Ramadan fasting period, which begins among Muslim faithful in the country today.
In a good will message to mark the beginning of the 30-day long Ramadan fasting by Muslims, the former Vice President appealed to the Boko Haram insurgents to permanently abandon any form of violence against innocent people.
According to him, cold-blooded murder of innocent people is against the teachings of Islam and, therefore, advised the Boko Haram insurgents to embrace peace, using the Ramadan season as the beginning of the end of their violence against defenseless victims.
Atiku Abubakar advised Boko Haram to embrace dialogue and disarmament to save the nation this needless violence against innocent people. He added: “deliberate violence against innocent people cannot be justified under whatever circumstances and it benefits nobody. The Boko Haram insurgents should take advantage of this Ramadan period to end all forms of violence once and for all, and save us from this endless trauma
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