Report says sect killed 935THE magnitude of violence being unleashed on Nigerians by the Boko Haram, notwithstanding, the Federal Government may have to tackle them without recourse to foreign support due to opposition to such a proposal.Yesterday, the National Action Coalition being led by Dr. Tunji Braithwaite, specifically rejected any plan to allow intervention from the United States (U.S.) in the fight against the Islamic sect in Nigeria.On Monday, the Borno Elders and Leaders of Thought (BELT) led by former Minister of Steel and Petroleum Resources in the First Republic, Alhaji Shettima Ali Monguno, expressed opposition to the United States (US) intervention in the efforts to tackle Boko Haram. Monguno said such action would be improper because Nigeria has no defence pact with the U.S.But this caution came amid a reportby the Human Rights Watch (HWR) that about 935 people had been killed since 2009 when Boko Haram began its onslaught in the country.And for the umpteenth time, Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has urged the Federal Government to immediately convoke a national dialogue for all of Nigeria's ethnic nationalities to iron out the basis of their future co-existence.Soyinka said such a conversation would enable Nigeria to address debilitating issues, such as the Boko Haram insurgency in the North, as well as other pressing constitutional matters that have continually remained sources of destabilisation in the nation.Speaking at an event organised by the American Consulate in Lagos, to commemorate the birthday of slain American civil rights leader, Martin Luther King (Jnr.), Soyinka agonised that Nigeria was already disintegrating before the very eyes of its citizens. He said it was now time for Nigerians to sit down as equal partners, and discuss the future of the country.He said: 'We can even remove the word 'sovereign,' but a national dialogue, there has to be. If you don't have a dialogue, you will have a monologue, a series of monologues that is deadly. Right now, we are undergoing a particularly destabilising, and disorientating form of monologue. It is affecting everywhere; it is coming down here, it is already happening here in the south.'This is one of the most horrendous aspects of monologue that we have encountered in our history' So it is either a dialogue or a serial monologue in which people would use their own method. In dialogue, there is only one language; in monologue, you would have the language of Kalashnikovs, detonators, AK-47s, etcetera, etcetera.'He continued: 'When you reach a certain point, where there is a very well organised, ruthless group, without any compunction, ' attacking, and announcing'So it is not an accident; they say: 'We are attacking this section of the community'' This nation is already disintegrating, right before our very eyes. At such a moment, what are you waiting for' You better call a dialogue, and let us understand what the different sections want.'While noting that there were no absolute propositions to resolving the existential crisis now facing the country, the literary icon reiterated his earlier call to other Nigerians in the southern part of the country not to carry out reprisals against their compatriots of northern extraction, and called for immediate action to save the country.''We have a responsibility to ensure that we respect the 'strangers' among us. We should always continue to remember that no matter what their kinsfolk are doing elsewhere, reprisals are very dangerous and ugly, and we should all remember the example of Martin Luther King (Jnr),' he said.Speaking at the press conference in Lagos yesterday, Braithwaite said: 'The National Action Coalition is an umbrella for all democratic forces working to resolve the problems in this country.'The lawyer noted that, 'if the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had not compromised by unilaterally calling off the industrial action, we would have gotten some of our demands.'Reacting to the recent Kano bombing, Braithwaite expressed the coalition's sadness over the loss of innocent lives.He noted that the Boko Haram crisis was deeper than a religious one and urged religious leaders not to let it cause a division among them.'The Boko Haram is not a religious issue but a political issue borne out of corruption and bad governance. Let the world be told that corruption has become king in Nigeria and we are working towards getting it dethroned,' he said.Braithwaite urged the Federal Government not to allow foreign bodies to mediate in the country's affairs while checking Boko Haram, stating that, 'we do not need American's help at this stage because it is a Greek gift.'He said that, 'the oil exploration that has attracted international attention could easily bring international interference that may exacerbate our condition.'According to Braithwaite, unless the constitution is 'surgically dissected' and not reformed, there will not be a way forward because to him, the constitution is the 'Decree 24' of 1999 made for treasury looters. 'We cannot let the next election take place without solving the constitutional deception,' he said.He said that his group wanted the Federal Government to summon a national conference before the nation's problems worsened.The group urged President Jonathan to seriously begin to see himself as not a captive of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in order to develop the country.'Jonathan should begin to see himself as not a captive of his party (the PDP). He must free himself from the PDP, because now is the time to convene a sovereign national conference. He must realise that the issue of Boko Haram can't be solved by the government alone,' he said.Braithwaite also noted the disagreement between the Federal Government and the Lagos State government over the deployment of troops in the state.'The Federal Government is only shifting blame on Lagos State government because the states do not have the constitutional power to deploy soldiers but the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, who happens to be the President.'The press conference was attended by Nike Ransom-Kuti, daughter of the late human rights activist, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Yemisi Coker and other activists.In a report released yesterday, HRW said that since Boko Haram lacked regard for human life, the Nigerian authorities must urgently evolve concrete steps to halt what it called 'the campaign of terror and bring to swift justice those responsible for planning and carrying out these reprehensible crimes.'The report came amid a fresh report of explosions and gunfire near a police station in Kano yesterday, where coordinated attacks by the Boko Haram sect left more than 250 dead last week.Reports said some 15 blasts and gunshots were heard coming from the vicinity of a mobile police headquarters.In the report, Corinne Dufka, top West Africa researcher at HRW, said: 'Boko Haram's attacks show a complete and utter disregard for human life. The Nigerian authorities need to call a halt to this campaign of terror and bring to justice those responsible for planning and carrying out these reprehensible crimes.'HRW said 550 people were killed in 115 separate attacks by the sect last year, mostly in the far north-eastern state of Borno, where it was founded in 2002.It added that the Boko Haram sect had killed about 935 people since it launched an uprising in 2009, including more than 250 in the first week of this year.Boko Haram, which means 'Western education is sinful' in the Hausa language, is loosely modelled on Afghanistan's Taliban and has claimed responsibility for bombing churches, police stations, military facilities, banks and beer parlours in the northern part of the country.It focuses its attacks mostly on the Police, military and government, but has recently increased its attacks on Christian institutions.The group maintains that it is fighting enemies who have wronged its members through violence, arrests or economic neglect and corruption.In the sect's most deadly assault, bomb attacks and gun battles in Kano on Friday last week killed more than 250 people. The group has moved from drive-by shootings and petrol bombs to suicide attacks using large and increasingly sophisticated explosives.Apparently disturbed by the mass killings in Kano, members of the Arewa Youths Forum (AYF) yesterday urged PresidentJonathan to immediately declare amnesty for the militant Islamic sect and ask them to surrender their arms so as to commence a genuine dialogue that could lead to peace and stability in the country.The National President of the AYF, Alhaji Gambo Ibrahim Gujungu, told journalists while reacting to the Boko Haram attack in Kano and Bauchi states, said that since the Police could not curb the activities of the group, the government should think of an alternative of dialogue to broker peace with the Islamic sect.
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