Alhaji Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, chairman of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North and Minister for Special Duties, in this interaction with selected newsmen in Lagos, said government is sincere about dialoguing with the insurgents. Our Lagos Correspondent, Ayodele Samuel, was there. Excerpts:
How far has your committee gone in the task given to it by President Goodluck Jonathan on the issue of insecurity in Nigeria?
Upon the inauguration, the committee was given the mandate by Mr. President to constructively engage the key members of the Jama'tu Ahlis sunna lid Da'awati wal Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram in constructive dialogue that would lead to peaceful resolution in respect to insecurity or the security challenge that we have in the Northern part of this country, most especially the North Eastern part of this country. We have been asked to define a comprehensive and workable framework for resolving the crises of insecurity in this country. We have been asked to develop a frame work for the granting of amnesty in deserving cases.
We have also been asked to develop a frame work through which amnesty will take place after ceasefire agreement will have been signed between the federal government and the insurgents. We have also been directed to develop a victim-support programme that would assist government as much as practicable to support the victims of some of these incidents in such a way that will again assist them as much as practicable to go and be living their lives in ways and manners they have been doing it before the unfortunate incidences that has affected them. Finally we have also been asked to develop a mechanism that will enable the government to underline causes of insurgencies in all parts of Nigeria with a view to preventing future occurrences. In this committee, President Jonathan took time to draft creditable Nigerians of impeachable records; people who have been accomplished and have reached the peak in their profession and vocations in life. People who rarely have something to seek from Nigeria than what to offer Nigerians.
We resolved as a committee that we will approach the national assignment without any assumption or presumption but draw our conclusions on the basis of facts, evidence and the information that would appear or be presented before us. And so we decided to approach it with free mind, allowing our all members to be guided by their conscience and fear of God in the course of our assignment. From the beginning, we decided to have interaction with critical stakeholders and we identified the Yoruba Unity Forum as a critical stakeholders that we must interface with. But first, we say we needed to interact with chieftains of security agencies and institutions in Abuja and thus we started the interaction at the office of the National Security Adviser. The interaction we had with the chieftains of the security agencies gave us a greater insights into understanding the nature and context of the assignment that has been entrusted on us. Having had this interactive section with security agencies and other stakeholders, we resolved that we should deployed ourselves into the frontline states. Those states in this country where incidents of insurgents has taken place or are still taking place for a better understanding of the issues involve, so that whatsoever recommendations we will make as a committee would be grounded in evidence, facts and information that has been received by us and which we can justify.
In all the states that we visited, we had interactions with top government officials, security agencies that are involved in the operational activities within the confine of those states; we met with elders, traditional institutions, various groups, clergy and above all we also had interaction with victims of the acts of insurgency. We assured the victims that not only is government aware of their plights but that indeed government is prepared, upon our recommendations to give them the support that would try to return their lives to normalcy with the way they have been living before the insurgency. We also visited those places that were affected by the insurgency and in some cases, terrorism. We visited places of worships, government and private properties and other affected areas including motor parks. We even went to hospitals to see victims who are receiving treatments and also identified with them. We have also taken the pains of condoling and consoling members of the families of those who have lost their lives in the course of this several unfortunate acts of insurgency. This visitation we made has broadened our understanding of the issues and we have received lots of information that we believe will assist us rightly in coming up with suggestions and drawing framework and arriving at conclusion that will assist the government to comprehensively address the issue of the insurgency.
How have you been dealing with the insurgents?
Our approach has been from a twin perspective to deal with members of insurgent that are in detention and those who are in the field. But, the greatest challenge this committee had from inception was how to locate the members of these insurgencies, particularly the key ones; having a direct link with them; create a line of communication; develop confidence and build that confidence to critical trust where members of this insurgents would agree to speak with us without any fear, particularly in the light of their assertion that previous attempt that were made for dialogues were mere traps that we have set up for them, which later led to the arrest of some of their members. So, we took a lot of valuable time in establishing the links and developing that confidence and we took more time in building trust upon that confidence and we have got to a point now whereby we ask them to come and they will freely come to us without any fear. The consequence of what I am saying is that dialogue has started. Dialogue has started on these twins perspectives and we have gone very far and the committee is on course. The issue of security is not just the issue of security agencies; it is the business of all of us. And so we need, as concerned individuals, as stakeholders to take more than a passing interest in what happen around us and within our vicinity.
What are some of the challenges faced by your committee in the course of discharging your duties and do you see government implementing some the recommendations of the committee at the end of the whole process?
At the beginning of the assignment, we were faced with challenges but the most consoling thing is that whenever an issue came up that we needed to have a quick actions taken on them, that we needed even at that stage even before the submission of our final report to government to make recommendations, all our recommendations were swiftly accepted by government and the implementations directed immediately. This has established two things, one that the government is sincere about the dialogue option. The needs arise, at a certain stage of our assignment,that some vulnerable group of persons were released from detention, including women and children, people who have been investigated by security agencies and have not done any criminal act and other people who were in the wrong paces at the wrong time who were not members of the insurgency nor have committed any offence. So we took them up one after the other and we are glad that Mr. President ordered the immediate release of the vulnerable category of people. This is one of the things that have assisted us in building confidence in the interaction we had between us and the insurgents. We believe and we have cause to believe that whatsoever recommendation we make at the end of the day, would be recommendation that government would take very seriously and would be recommendation that worth accepted.
Do you see government implementing the recommendation of your committee considering that several committees' reports that have been swept under the carpet?
We have addressed this issue severally and our position is that for us even before we got to the point of beginning to write our report, matters have risen that necessitated our making suggestions to Mr. President and he did not only accept those suggestions but gave immediate instruction for implementation alongside those suggestions that we have made and this was not once, twice or thrice. So, we believe that if Mr. President can take this committee that serious then at the end of the day when we submit our report, Mr. President would take them very seriously and will begin the process of implementing them.
Like when would the issue of terrorism be over in this country?
The issue of terrorism is not something that will erase within a short period of time. We even see some developed countries where robust agreement of cease fire had been signed still facing the issue of insecurity. We hope the dialogue option that has been given by President Jonathan would allow any Nigerians to live anywhere in Nigeria. Nigeria is the most prayerful country in the world there is no country in the world as prayerful as Nigeria irrespective of the religion that is why God will not forsake us in everything we are doing as a people and as a nation.
There is this believe that the Federal Government option of dialogue is a sign of weakness on the part of President Jonathan.
Let me say the offer of the dialogue option is by no means a sign of weakness on the part of the government because government has consistently established beyond doubts that not only does it have capacity but indeed has the political will to take proactive measures to protect lives and property of all law abiding Nigerians wherever they may be. But when as it were, you are forced into a situation you have to direct your military, police, armed forces to take up arms against your own citizens, it takes a lot of a courage and you do it with a very deep heart and that is why President Jonathan is saying for those who want peace, the dialogue committee is there; for those who believe that their mother would not sleep, they themselves would not sleep.
There is this believe that your committee is lopsided in the favour of Muslims and also trying to pacify the Christians victims neglecting others.
People should take into account that the people who are involved in this act of insurgents are basing their causes on Islamic dogma as misguided as it may be. In the course of our interactions, we get people that engaged them in intellectical arguments on the bases of Islamic principles, to bring them back on track and kill the misguidance, then identifying the point of departure from the proper and genuine Islamic principles and perspectives.
We are being accused that we are giving more preference to Christians victims some people say we are visiting only churches and pacifying Christians and we are not giving attention to Muslims victims. Wherever we go, we try to accommodate everybody, we would not speak for ourselves we would allow our work to speak for us. If you go to a place like Borno, for instance, how do you interact with the victims there. Because every family is a victim. They have suffered one degree of deprivation or another; they have suffered one form of colossal loss or another; they have one member of their family that is either been killed or one vital part of their body affected. How do you do that?
But some people, especially from the North are saying the government may not be sincere, since on one part it is trying to dialogue with Boko Haram members and on another side fighting the terrorists. Isn't this a kind of contradiction?
Nobody from the North geo political zone will nurse this view because we have been to the frontline states, including the three key states where the state of emergency has been declared by Mr. President and the response from the people who live in these areas has been so commendable. It is very commendable because they appreciate the effort of the president providing security to protect their lives and properties.
Again, members of the communities in this state have been more proactive. They have realized that the issue of security is not the business of security agents alone and so they are more proactive and taken it upon themselves not only to give qualitative information to help the security agents but to also take their destiny and life in their hands by coming out in many cases and in many areas to partner with the security agencies in arresting the issue of insurgency.
Your committee have asked for additional two months, have your committee achieved any success so far?
We have achieved a lot. You could remember that we recently held a world press conference in Abuja where we were able to give brief of what we have done so far to member of the local and international media and we released a video containing members of the Shurab sitting in council and then accepting and recommending to themselves and all other members of the Jamā'a Ahl al-sunnah li-da'wa wa al-jihād, the issue of dialogue, saying there is no option than dialogue as far as Islam and Muslims are concern. That is an achievement.
Upon the inauguration, the committee was given the mandate by Mr. President to constructively engage the key members of the Jama'tu Ahlis sunna lid Da'awati wal Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram in constructive dialogue that would lead to peaceful resolution in respect to insecurity or the security challenge that we have in the Northern part of this country, most especially the North Eastern part of this country. We have been asked to define a comprehensive and workable framework for resolving the crises of insecurity in this country. We have been asked to develop a frame work for the granting of amnesty in deserving cases.
We have also been asked to develop a frame work through which amnesty will take place after ceasefire agreement will have been signed between the federal government and the insurgents. We have also been directed to develop a victim-support programme that would assist government as much as practicable to support the victims of some of these incidents in such a way that will again assist them as much as practicable to go and be living their lives in ways and manners they have been doing it before the unfortunate incidences that has affected them. Finally we have also been asked to develop a mechanism that will enable the government to underline causes of insurgencies in all parts of Nigeria with a view to preventing future occurrences. In this committee, President Jonathan took time to draft creditable Nigerians of impeachable records; people who have been accomplished and have reached the peak in their profession and vocations in life. People who rarely have something to seek from Nigeria than what to offer Nigerians.
We resolved as a committee that we will approach the national assignment without any assumption or presumption but draw our conclusions on the basis of facts, evidence and the information that would appear or be presented before us. And so we decided to approach it with free mind, allowing our all members to be guided by their conscience and fear of God in the course of our assignment. From the beginning, we decided to have interaction with critical stakeholders and we identified the Yoruba Unity Forum as a critical stakeholders that we must interface with. But first, we say we needed to interact with chieftains of security agencies and institutions in Abuja and thus we started the interaction at the office of the National Security Adviser. The interaction we had with the chieftains of the security agencies gave us a greater insights into understanding the nature and context of the assignment that has been entrusted on us. Having had this interactive section with security agencies and other stakeholders, we resolved that we should deployed ourselves into the frontline states. Those states in this country where incidents of insurgents has taken place or are still taking place for a better understanding of the issues involve, so that whatsoever recommendations we will make as a committee would be grounded in evidence, facts and information that has been received by us and which we can justify.
In all the states that we visited, we had interactions with top government officials, security agencies that are involved in the operational activities within the confine of those states; we met with elders, traditional institutions, various groups, clergy and above all we also had interaction with victims of the acts of insurgency. We assured the victims that not only is government aware of their plights but that indeed government is prepared, upon our recommendations to give them the support that would try to return their lives to normalcy with the way they have been living before the insurgency. We also visited those places that were affected by the insurgency and in some cases, terrorism. We visited places of worships, government and private properties and other affected areas including motor parks. We even went to hospitals to see victims who are receiving treatments and also identified with them. We have also taken the pains of condoling and consoling members of the families of those who have lost their lives in the course of this several unfortunate acts of insurgency. This visitation we made has broadened our understanding of the issues and we have received lots of information that we believe will assist us rightly in coming up with suggestions and drawing framework and arriving at conclusion that will assist the government to comprehensively address the issue of the insurgency.
How have you been dealing with the insurgents?
Our approach has been from a twin perspective to deal with members of insurgent that are in detention and those who are in the field. But, the greatest challenge this committee had from inception was how to locate the members of these insurgencies, particularly the key ones; having a direct link with them; create a line of communication; develop confidence and build that confidence to critical trust where members of this insurgents would agree to speak with us without any fear, particularly in the light of their assertion that previous attempt that were made for dialogues were mere traps that we have set up for them, which later led to the arrest of some of their members. So, we took a lot of valuable time in establishing the links and developing that confidence and we took more time in building trust upon that confidence and we have got to a point now whereby we ask them to come and they will freely come to us without any fear. The consequence of what I am saying is that dialogue has started. Dialogue has started on these twins perspectives and we have gone very far and the committee is on course. The issue of security is not just the issue of security agencies; it is the business of all of us. And so we need, as concerned individuals, as stakeholders to take more than a passing interest in what happen around us and within our vicinity.
What are some of the challenges faced by your committee in the course of discharging your duties and do you see government implementing some the recommendations of the committee at the end of the whole process?
At the beginning of the assignment, we were faced with challenges but the most consoling thing is that whenever an issue came up that we needed to have a quick actions taken on them, that we needed even at that stage even before the submission of our final report to government to make recommendations, all our recommendations were swiftly accepted by government and the implementations directed immediately. This has established two things, one that the government is sincere about the dialogue option. The needs arise, at a certain stage of our assignment,that some vulnerable group of persons were released from detention, including women and children, people who have been investigated by security agencies and have not done any criminal act and other people who were in the wrong paces at the wrong time who were not members of the insurgency nor have committed any offence. So we took them up one after the other and we are glad that Mr. President ordered the immediate release of the vulnerable category of people. This is one of the things that have assisted us in building confidence in the interaction we had between us and the insurgents. We believe and we have cause to believe that whatsoever recommendation we make at the end of the day, would be recommendation that government would take very seriously and would be recommendation that worth accepted.
Do you see government implementing the recommendation of your committee considering that several committees' reports that have been swept under the carpet?
We have addressed this issue severally and our position is that for us even before we got to the point of beginning to write our report, matters have risen that necessitated our making suggestions to Mr. President and he did not only accept those suggestions but gave immediate instruction for implementation alongside those suggestions that we have made and this was not once, twice or thrice. So, we believe that if Mr. President can take this committee that serious then at the end of the day when we submit our report, Mr. President would take them very seriously and will begin the process of implementing them.
Like when would the issue of terrorism be over in this country?
The issue of terrorism is not something that will erase within a short period of time. We even see some developed countries where robust agreement of cease fire had been signed still facing the issue of insecurity. We hope the dialogue option that has been given by President Jonathan would allow any Nigerians to live anywhere in Nigeria. Nigeria is the most prayerful country in the world there is no country in the world as prayerful as Nigeria irrespective of the religion that is why God will not forsake us in everything we are doing as a people and as a nation.
There is this believe that the Federal Government option of dialogue is a sign of weakness on the part of President Jonathan.
Let me say the offer of the dialogue option is by no means a sign of weakness on the part of the government because government has consistently established beyond doubts that not only does it have capacity but indeed has the political will to take proactive measures to protect lives and property of all law abiding Nigerians wherever they may be. But when as it were, you are forced into a situation you have to direct your military, police, armed forces to take up arms against your own citizens, it takes a lot of a courage and you do it with a very deep heart and that is why President Jonathan is saying for those who want peace, the dialogue committee is there; for those who believe that their mother would not sleep, they themselves would not sleep.
There is this believe that your committee is lopsided in the favour of Muslims and also trying to pacify the Christians victims neglecting others.
People should take into account that the people who are involved in this act of insurgents are basing their causes on Islamic dogma as misguided as it may be. In the course of our interactions, we get people that engaged them in intellectical arguments on the bases of Islamic principles, to bring them back on track and kill the misguidance, then identifying the point of departure from the proper and genuine Islamic principles and perspectives.
We are being accused that we are giving more preference to Christians victims some people say we are visiting only churches and pacifying Christians and we are not giving attention to Muslims victims. Wherever we go, we try to accommodate everybody, we would not speak for ourselves we would allow our work to speak for us. If you go to a place like Borno, for instance, how do you interact with the victims there. Because every family is a victim. They have suffered one degree of deprivation or another; they have suffered one form of colossal loss or another; they have one member of their family that is either been killed or one vital part of their body affected. How do you do that?
But some people, especially from the North are saying the government may not be sincere, since on one part it is trying to dialogue with Boko Haram members and on another side fighting the terrorists. Isn't this a kind of contradiction?
Nobody from the North geo political zone will nurse this view because we have been to the frontline states, including the three key states where the state of emergency has been declared by Mr. President and the response from the people who live in these areas has been so commendable. It is very commendable because they appreciate the effort of the president providing security to protect their lives and properties.
Again, members of the communities in this state have been more proactive. They have realized that the issue of security is not the business of security agents alone and so they are more proactive and taken it upon themselves not only to give qualitative information to help the security agents but to also take their destiny and life in their hands by coming out in many cases and in many areas to partner with the security agencies in arresting the issue of insurgency.
Your committee have asked for additional two months, have your committee achieved any success so far?
We have achieved a lot. You could remember that we recently held a world press conference in Abuja where we were able to give brief of what we have done so far to member of the local and international media and we released a video containing members of the Shurab sitting in council and then accepting and recommending to themselves and all other members of the Jamā'a Ahl al-sunnah li-da'wa wa al-jihād, the issue of dialogue, saying there is no option than dialogue as far as Islam and Muslims are concern. That is an achievement.
http://peoplesdailyng.com/govt-dialogue-with-insurgents-not-a-sign-of-weakness-says-turaki/
