Human rights activist, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, has called on the Federal Government to immediately negotiate with the Boko Haram Islamist sect to bring back the abducted school girls from Chibok, Borno State.
But the Federal Government in a surprised move on Saturday, said it did not offer amnesty to Boko Haram members.
In a statement made available to Vanguard, Ozekhome, who is also a delegate to the ongoing National Conference in Abuja, said Section 14 of the 1999 Constitution mandated the Federal Government to ensure the security and welfare of the citizenry.
He said: “The controversy over whether or not the Federal Government should negotiate with Boko Haram with a view to releasing the abducted Chibok Secondary School girls, is nauseating and demeaning of our humanity, to say the least.
“Let it be made clear that the security and welfare of Nigerians are the primary purpose of government (Section 14 of the 1999 Constitution).
”It is unthinkable that some people would want the lives of these innocent future leaders of Nigeria to be wasted on the altar of government grand-standing and engagement niceties. There are times when a government stoops to conquer.
Recalling that former US President, Mr. J.F. Kennedy, once promulgated the concept of negotiation, Ozekhome said Nigeria could not continue to experience the orgy of bloodletting which had claimed over 12, 000 lives amid wanton destruction of schools, churches and mosques.
”It was J.F. Kennedy, former American President, who once declared that we should never fail to negotiate, just as we should never negotiate out of fear. Negotiating with Boko Haram will not amount to negotiating out of fear.
“It is simply an irritating sacrifice to be made to justify the sanctity of the lives of these young, innocent souls. I dare say that the Federal Government should negotiate even with Satan, if that would bring back our girls. Even Satan would be humbled and diminished by such an unprecedented strategy.
”Recall that part of the main brief of the Turaki Committee was to negotiate with the Boko Haram group, an offer it had imperiously rejected. Now that the same Boko Haram has thrown up the “Olive branch,” for that is what it clearly is, the Federal Government should seize it, and make gains out of it.
”It affords a golden opportunity, not only to negotiate the release of the Chibok girls, but to holistically negotiate amnesty and halting of the horrific insurgency and bloodletting that have claimed over 12, 000 lives and wanton destruction of houses, Schools, Churches, Mosques, public buildings, bus stops, etc.
”The Federal Government should, for once, think of the trepidation, unease, cries, tension, suspense, psychological trauma and mental torture, that the abduction of these children is causing their parents, teachers, siblings, friends and loved ones.”
