20th October, 2014
The recent attacks and killings in northern Nigeria by suspected Boko Haram members only days after the Federal Government announced a ceasefire with the militants have left many people doubtful of the entire truce. It has also called to question the announcement by the military that more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by the sect on 14 April would be released this week by Boko Haram.
On Friday, Defence Chief, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh announced the ceasefire with Boko Haram to facilitate the release of the Chibok girls. But Boko Haram has not confirmed the truce three days after it was purportedly reached. Rather, the sect seems to have again gone on a killing spree. At least five attacks have been reported since Friday and dozens have been killed in northern Nigeria.
Although talks were scheduled to continue in Chad this Monday, many Nigerians are wondering if a sect that cannot respect a ceasefire can be trusted to release the Chibok girls. Many people already had serious doubts about the credentials of Boko Haram negotiator Danladi Ahmadu, who was unheard of before last week.
Besides, Ahmed Salkida, a Nigerian journalist who had close ties with Boko Haram and who even shared a cell in 2009 with the sect’s founder, Mohammed Yusuf, has dismissed the talks in a tweet. Salkida said in his tweet that whoever Ahmadu is, he is not a member of Boko Haram’s senior “Shura council” or does “he speak for them, as far as I know.”
It is difficult to say, as the government has claimed, that the attacks could have been by criminal gangs exploiting the chaos in northern Nigeria and not by Boko Haram itself. Could the ceasefire have collapsed even before it started or was it just electoral propaganda to boost President Goodluck Jonathan’s profile before he officially declares his intention to run for presidency again?
The scant details of the truce also have left many sceptical about the purpoted ceasefire. Doubts also persist because the Federal Government did not involve Salkida and Shehu Sanni who are well known and genuine links with Boko Haram, in the ceasefire talks. Something does not just add up in the whole drama currently playing out.
We are compelled to express a cautious optimism and we call on the Federal Government to speak only when it is certain that a highly sensitive issue such as a ceasefire deal had been struck before going to town to blow its trumpet. No matter what, we need peace to return to Nigeria. We want the killings to stop and the girls to be released. But with recent developments and the kidnap of 40 more women, we will have to wait a little longer for everything concerning this thorny issue to pan out.