Nigeria: Northern elite use religion to manipulate people – Rights activist Shehu Sani

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"I think this amnesty thing is putting the cart before the horse. This amnesty is more or less a very big scam by people who see an opportunity to create another commission for which hundreds of thousands of public funds would be given to them."

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Punch | Nigeria
By John Alechenu | Excerpts | June 2, 2013

In this interview with JOHN ALECHENU, civil rights activist and Executive Director, Civil Rights Congress, Shehu Sani, speaks about activism, his time behind bars, as well as the way out of the Boko Haram crisis

Q: In the late 1980s and early 1990s, we had so many NGOs fighting against military rule. It appears we don’t get to see much of their work in recent times, why is this so?

A: What people need to understand is that the role of civil society groups during military era is different from that of civilian democracies. During the military era, our major goal and objective was the removal and disestablishment of military dictatorship and the return of the country to the path of democracy. Under a democratic dispensation, civil society groups play an engagement role. That is, you have civil society groups interested in issues of health, energy, transport, governance, human rights and different fields of governance. Now, if you are to summarise it, what we do under democracy is to ensure that the game is played according to the rules and also ensure that the key players in governance are put to the task of observing their limitations and responsibilities within the ambit of the constitution.

So, I think this should be very clear, under a civilian democracy there are opposition political parties that are supposed to play the role of opposition. They are supposed to lead mass protests, they are supposed to challenge, confront the establishment and provide an alternative platform for power. What we were doing under the military was to remove the military from power but under democracy, it is to sanitise and ensure that the game is played according to the rules. That is the difference.

Q: What do you think about the amnesty for members of the [Boko Haram] group?

A: I think this amnesty thing is putting the cart before the horse. This amnesty is more or less a very big scam by people who see an opportunity to create another commission for which hundreds of thousands of public funds would be given to them. I see a big scam ahead with this issue of amnesty. This amnesty will end up like the one in the Niger Delta where hundreds of millions of naira would be allocated and then, it would be said to be shared to the insurgents, which at the end of the day, will produce no result. If anybody is thinking that members of Boko Haram are out for money, I think that person simply wants to have money for himself. When I facilitated the talks between Obasanjo and the sect, it didn’t take me more than the fuel I put in my car. We went there and sat down with them. Nigerians should be wary about setting up a commission and allocating billions of tax payers’ money to it. Boko Haram has not made any financial request. If we are going to solve this problem, we have to keep the issue of money aside because what is to come ahead is to apply the same formulae with what is being done in the Niger Delta; it will become a drain pipe. As far as I am concerned, there is still a long road ahead. The group may dismiss this amnesty and dismiss the commission.

Q: What are the things that need to be done?

A: Government should set up a committee made up of leaders of the five Islamic sects in Nigeria. The Shiite sect, should be there, the Ahmadiyya sect should be there,  Dherika sect should be there, the Tijaniyya sect, and they should all have their leaders as part of the committee. There should be one representative of the JNI and one representative of the Supreme Council of Sharia and you should bring Ahmed Shilkida who facilitated the first talks with government which had Dr. Datti Ahmed. The committee should have the respect of the government and members of the sect and they should then extract a six or eight month’s ceasefire which the government should also pledge to abide by. Within this period of cease fire, the committee will then take stock of the victims of the Boko Haram violence, the widows, orphans and those that have suffered from the violence. They should also take stock of the damage and the claims of the Boko Haram group and address those fundamental issues raised by the sect which was the killing of their leader and the release of their members in detention. If you are going to release them, you divide them into three categories, the first category are their leaders who are in detention, the second category are their foot soldiers, the third category are their women and children. They should release the women and children, then you follow these things step by step and before you know it, the whole thing will come to an end. If you say you are going to allocate three billion dollars to people who will now come and parade themselves as Boko Haram members, you will end up nowhere because, no matter the amount of money you spend, if it is not a request of the insurgent group, we will simply have no result. I think this is the only way.


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