Borno governor-elect mulls amnesty for Boko Haram sects members

THE governor-elect of Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Shettima of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), has pledged to grant amnesty to the outlawed Boko Haram sect and its members in the North, if they lay down their arms and negotiate with the state government to restore peace and unity for security of all lives and property in the state.He, however, noted that the amnesty cannot be achieved without the full cooperation and understating of the three opposition parties, traditional and religious leaders, since without peace and security of lives and property, no meaningful development could take place under the current democratic dispensation in the country.Shettima spoke in an interview with The Guardian yesterday at his new Government Reservation Area (GRA), Maiduguri residence while responding to his victory in the gubernatorial polls.He said it has become inevitable for the state government, stakeholders and the opposition partiesPeoples Democratic Party (PDP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)to first address the insecurity of lives and property in Borno State by extending an amnesty to the Boko Haram sect members.He said if the late President Umaru YarAduas administration could address the problems of militants in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, the ANPP administration, within the first 100 days in office, will sit at a roundtable with the radical Islamists sect in an effort to grant them amnesty and allow them to return to their homes and family members in Maiduguri, Biu, Gwoza and Damasaktheir four main strongholds.As soon as the administration is inaugurated on May 29, 2011, we will sit down at a roundtable with the Boko Haram leaders on how its members could lay down their arms and move the state forward by restoring peace and unity for the protection of all lives and property in Borno State, Shettima said.He added: The victory of ANPP at Tuesdays polls was not only for me as a person and candidate of the party, but to all stakeholders and opposition parties that fully participated in the gubernatorial elections conducted by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).The challenging task before me and the entire party machinery of the ruling and opposition parties is to first address the insecurity of lives and property in the state, reactivate the closed down industries, tackle the endless power outages by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) that could be addressed by reactivating the Marte Chad Basin Development Authoritys power stations to generate 30 megawatts for Borno State.
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