THE
United States (U.S.) Tuesday explained its move to offer $23 million
reward to help track down five leaders of militant groups accused of
spreading terror in West Africa, with the highest sum of $7 million
placed on Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau.
Shekau last week
called on Islamists in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq to join the bloody
fight to create an Islamic state in Nigeria.
The Acting Assistant
Director of Diplomatic Security’s Threat Investigations Analysis
Directorate, U.S. Department of State, Kurt Rice, said the rewards were
to ensure the availability of useful information on the location of the
terror gangs’ leaders, which would in turn allow the citizens to live
peacefully.
His explanation came as some U.S.-based groups also
commended the move, having been campaigning for tougher policies against
the Islamist terrorist organisation, including the outright designation
of Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO).
Interestingly,
President Goodluck Jonathan Tuesday formally proscribed the two major
Islamist terrorist organisations in the country, Boko Haram and Ansaru,
and authorised the gazetting of an order declaring their activities
illegal and acts of terrorism.
Jonathan’s order, which has been
gazetted as the Terrorism (Prevention) Proscription Order Notice 2013
affects both Boko Haram (Jamaatu Ahlis-Sunna Liddaawati Wal Jihad) and
another group, Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis Sudan, pursuant to
Section 2 of the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011 (As Amended).
A
statement last night by the Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) to the
President, Dr. Reuben Abati, said the new law officially brings the
activities of both groups within the purview of the Terrorism Prevention
Act and any person associated with them could now be legally prosecuted
and sentenced to penalties specified in the Act.
Moreover, the
Minister of State for Defence, Olusola Obada, and other service chiefs
were at the Senate yesterday to give situation report on the state of
emergency declared last month in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno states.
Obada,
who came with only the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Admiral Ola Sa’ad
Ibrahim, as the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) and Chief of Army Staff (CAS)
were on other national assignments, told lawmakers that anything that
would bring about disunity in the country would be strictly resisted.
Responding,
the Chairman, Senate Joint Committee on Defence and Army, National
Security and Intelligence, Navy, Air Force and the Police, George
Thompson Sekib, said the committee was mandated to monitor the progress
of the emergency rule and report back at regular basis. Noting that it
was a monthly briefing, Sekib said the committee would study the report.
Rice
spoke yesterday during a teleconference on new U.S. counter-terrorists
initiative for West African nations. Beside the $7 million on Shekau, he
said, “what we are looking for is fruitful information that will lead
to the location of AQIM leader, Yahya Abou Al-Hammam, and the current
leader, Oumar Ould Hamaha.
“We are trying to work with Nigeria to
ensure that their environments are free from terrorists throw-out for
the first time. The reward is to ensure people can give us information
that will lead to the apprehension of these leaders of terrorists.”
He
added: “Anyone with useful information that could lead to the arrest of
these terrorists can visit our website www.rewards4justice.com or
frg@washington.org, or the person can visit the U.S. consulate.”
On
their part, America-based Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans
(CANAN) said the bounty on the terrorists was an encouraging
development. CANAN President, Dr. James Fadele, said yesterday: “We want
to commend the new U.S. Secretary of State, Senator John Kerry, for
this decision in the hope that this move is an indication of greater
forthrightness in dealing with the bane of terrorism in Nigeria and the
West African sub-region.
“Boko Haram is a band of brutal
terrorists who should be dealt with seriously, promptly and effectively
to preserve the peace and stability of the West African sub-region and
secure the freedom of worship of Nigerian Christians.”
Similarly,
Jubilee Campaign, a Washington DC-based advocacy group formed by leading
Americans concerned with religious freedom, also commended the
decision.
Its executive director, Ann Buwalda, said in a statement
yesterday: “Jubilee Campaign commends this offer of a reward by the
U.S. Department of States for information leading to the capture of
Shekau, a brutal terrorist responsible for the systematic effort to
eradicate Christians from the north of Nigeria as well as impose Sharia
law throughout the country of Nigeria.
“Our data shows that Boko
Haram attacks more Christians than any other targeted group. Between
2010 and 2013, Boko Haram initiated attacks against Christians 297
times, and in 2012 killed 1,726 people and injured 613 more.
For
U.S.-based religious freedom advocate, Emma Ogebe, “the decision by the
U.S. to name a reward for the capture of Boko Haram’s leader is no doubt
an indication of the strong pressure on the Obama administration to
rethink its policy in the wake of the unrelenting genocide unleashed by
the terrorists.”
Ogebe added: “The argument that Boko Haram is
about northern poverty when the terrorists are using RPGs and
anti-aircraft missiles is no longer tenable and makes a mockery of the
U.S. government.”
Nevertheless, most of the groups are insisting
that the U.S. goes all the way to designate the group an FTO, as Fadele
disclosed, “we are hopeful that the U.S. will continue to do the right
thing going forward regarding Boko Haram - and that is to actually call
this band of terrorists what they in fact are: a foreign terrorist
organisation.”
Ogebe shares his opinion, stating that while the
bounty is a step in the right direction, the designation of the Islamist
sect as a foreign terrorist organisation would have been the decent
thing to do.
Nevertheless, former military Head of State, Gen.
Abdulsalami Abubakar, has urged Boko Haram to lay down their arms and
embrace dialogue as means of resolving their grievances with the
country.
Abubakar spoke yesterday while receiving the Presidential
Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in
the North during a courtesy call at his residence in Minna.
A
statement by the committee’s secretary, Esther Gonda, said that Abubakar
pleaded with the group to take the opportunity of dialogue offered by
government to end the suffering of people caught up in the conflict.
Abubakar, however, warned the government against retribution in the event that the group accepts to dialogue.
He
expressed hope that with the committee, peace would return to the zone,
as its members comprised people of impeccable character. He traced the
crisis in the North to high level abject poverty occasioned by poor
infrastructure, and advised government to address issues of electricity
while strengthening the security agencies in the country.
