Presidential panel advises government to offer Boko Haram amnesty

The Presidential Committee on Continued Dialogue and Resolution of Security Challenges in the North in its report recommended amnesty for the Boko Haram sect in a bid to end the insurgency and other related security challenges in the region, The Guardian reports.

 

The report called the Presidency to grant amnesty to combatant members of the Boko Haram and Ansaru sects who renounced violence and were willing to disarm and re-integrate into the community. The same gesture was also proposed for those whose crimes or membership could not be proven.

 

The constitution of the panel was one of the recommendations of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North headed by Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Alhaji Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, (SAN).

 

 

The Turaki-led committee had, while submitting its report to Jonathan on November 5, 2013 recommended among others the setting up of an advisory committee on continuous dialogues that will have powers to advise the President on all matters related to dialogue and resolution of crisis. It also recommended the setting up of a Victims Support Fund for victims of insurgency to be administered by a new agency established specifically to assist the victims.