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facts have emerged on reasons the Federal Government refused to entertain
amnesty proposal for members of the Boko Haram sect, with a confirmed link with
Al-Qaeda being described as a key reason.

Top northern leaders had, in recent days,
mounted pressure on the Federal Government to grant amnesty to the Islamic
militants as was done for the Niger Delta militants, but President Goodluck
Jonathan had consistently refused the request, saying that he could not grant
amnesty to ghosts.

A top security official, however, told the
Nigerian Tribune in Abuja that the real reason amnesty could not be granted the
Boko Haram activists was the confirmed link of the sect with various Al-Qaeda
groups within and outside Africa.

“The reality is that amnesty cannot work
for Al-Qaeda linked organisation. Boko Haram fight in Mali and the sect is
officially an affiliate of Al-Qaeda. So those operating in Nigeria cannot even
decide not to fight, as long as the sect is linked with that international
network,” the official, who craves anonymity, noted.

He explained further that members of the
Boko Haram sect are from Niger, Chad, Cameroon and other parts of Africa,
asking:  “how do you grant amnesty to fighters from all over Africa who
are fighting based on ideology?”

He said intelligence reports from many
countries confirmed Boko Haram as a trans-national network, adding that in
Nigeria, amnesty would be meaningless as the demands of the sect could not be
met.

According to him, amnesty was easily
granted Niger Delta militants, as there was no established case of a
trans-national network, as compared to the Islamic jihadists.

Nigerian Tribune was also told that in
negotiating peaceful end to insurgents, the first line was not amnesty, with
the source noting that “the first step is unconditional ceasefire.”

Source: Tribune