BOKO HARAM: Shehu Sani Gives Gives Practical Steps To End Insurgency

The President of the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria, Comrade Shehu Sani, yesterday urged the Federal Government to consider other options to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency.

The official also stressed the importance of raising a contact committee and Islamic sects’ leaders’ dialogue committee.

Sani made this known in a statement, issued last night in Abuja.

In his opinion, the use of force might not help.

The statement reads in part:
“Condemnation and shedding of tears is not enough. Proactive intervention and involvement is the only practical step to end the insurgency. 


“The state reserves the right to apply all its security apparatus to contain and extinguish the insurgency, but where it prolongs and becomes perilous to the lives of innocent Nigerians, other options should also be given attention.”

He recommended to raise the 2 committees and the enlisting of Islamic scholars and organisations to persuade Boko Haram to stop fighting.

According to Sani, although insurgency in the North-East poses a serious threat to people's life, liberty and democracy, the situation is not hopeless. He suggested taking the following steps:

“The Federal Government should set up two committees: (1) Contact Committee and (2) Islamic sects’ leaders’ dialogue committee. The contact committee should comprise facilitators of the Dr. Datti Ahmed intervention and some selected members of the insurgent groups now in detention. “The Islamic sects committee should comprise the leaders of Darika sects, Izala sects, Shiite sects, Qadriyya sects, Tijjaniya sects, Ahmadiyya sects.”

Sani stated that the 1st body was to initiate “a genuine contact with the leadership of the insurgents and secure an immediate and credible ceasefire”, while the 2nd body was to “engage the insurgents from the Islamic perspective and set an agenda for an end to all forms of violence and restoration of peace in that part of the country.”

Commenting on why he refused to serve on the Federal Government Dialogue Committee, led by the Minister of Special Duties, Alhaji Kabiru Tanimu Turaki Sani said that the mentioned committee was acking in contact and content and substance to achieve an end to the violence, adding:

“They wasted tax payers’ money by raising false hopes and broadcasting false and misleading ceasefires and contacts with the insurgents.”