BAUCHI State governor, Mallam Isah Yuguda, has labelled those kicking
against the amnesty package extended to Boko Haram as criminal and
politically-motivated members of the sect.
Hence, it is left for
the government to deal with such members when the real Boko Haram have
accepted the amnesty proposed by President Goodluck Jonathan.
Yuguda
told journalists in Lagos on Saturday that the real members of the
sect, who have various problems agitating their minds, would accept the
amnesty offer.
The governor also addressed other issues in the
polity, denying there was crisis in the Nigerian Governors Forum and
that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party would win 35 of the 36 states
in the next elections.
On the matter of Boko Haram, the governor said that no true Muslim would pick up weapons and kill a fellow man.
He
urged the government to look into joblessness and illiteracy that might
have prompted the sect members to embark on unholy attacks against the
people.
Maintaining that there were criminal elements among the
sect pushing for rejection of the amnesty offer, the governor said: “On
the issue of Boko Haram, amnesty has been given to the real Boko Haram
and I believe they are willing to accept that.
“That is my belief
but you know there is the criminal Boko Haram and there is the real Boko
Haram. But the criminal and the political Boko Haram are the armed
robbers and that arm of politicians that call themselves Boko Haram and
they go about attacking people.
“Maybe, it is the criminal Boko
Haram that are responding to say that they don’t want amnesty because
they have a different intention.
“Some of them are gunrunners,
some of them are armed robbers and some of them are doing that on behalf
of politicians. So, they just hide under Boko Haram and perpetrate
evil.”
For those that are actually Boko Haram, Yuguda said: “I
would want to believe that there is something that is agitating their
minds, not about killing human beings but probably there are certain
things that have agitated their minds — probably joblessness.”
“I
understand some of them are university graduates —15 years, no job. Now
that the president has extended that olive branch to them, I would like
to believe that they are quite happy.”
The governor said there had
to be an end to all these. “Once they have accepted, we know that we
have to face the criminals,” he said.
“Any other person that is calling himself Boko Haram, we know they are the armed robbers and the political Boko Haram.”
Saying
that Boko in Hausa means “learning in English,” including learning
rocket science, medicine, biology, chemistry, Hausa, Yoruba or anything
learnt in English characters, the governor queried: “But if you learn
rocket science in Arabic, is it Boko, too?”
Yuguda said it was
wrong to refer to Boko Haram as a religious sect or Islamic sect.
Rather, he said that there was a serious need to look at the sect and
find out why the members were agitating.
“If you read the Bible
from the beginning to the end, there is nowhere it said, ‘go and kill
for God.’ Even the Bible said if you are slapped on the left (cheek),
you turn the other cheek.
“What is the justification for the killing of people? Certainly not from the Bible!”
The governor added: “As for you being a Muslim, you cannot be a Muslim without believing in the Bible.
“In
the Quoran, Jesus is Isah, the son of Mary. You must believe in his
mother and believe that he was given birth to by the power of the Holy
Spirit.
“You must believe in the Bible, even though there are minor variations, that which relates to the crucifixion and the Trinity.
“For
any Muslim or Christian, who picks up a weapon and says, ‘I want to
kill,’ that man is a criminal. He is not a Muslim; he is not a
Christian.
“And the earlier you start preaching this philosophy,
the better for all of us. We must find a reason for the killing. It is
either poverty, tribal or look for the reason. It is not religious.”
However, in the midst of the serial attacks in the North, Yuguda said Bauchi State was peaceful.
Emphasising
that neither Islam nor Christianity permits its adherents to kill, he
said: “I become really worried when I read about mayhem, insecurity and
all that in Bauchi. What is all this?
“I am telling you that the
crimes committed in one city in any of these developed countries is more
than those committed in Nigeria (as a whole).
“Way back in 1999,
the budget for security alone was in the region of about $30b. I am
telling you that in one city alone (without identifying the city and the
country).
On the 2015 elections, Governor Yuguda gave the assurance that PDP would win 35 out of the 36 states of the federation.
“PDP
is going to win 35 out of the 36 states of the federation, come 2015,”
he said. “Somebody is saying that APC is a banned. We are winning in
Lagos.”
Insisting that there was no crisis among the governors in
the Nigerian Governors Forum, he said the PDP Governors Forum (PDP-GF)
was necessary to discuss matters resulting from the PDP manifesto.
“It
(founding of the PDP-GF) is not a crisis; formation of association is
provided for in the Constitution,” he said, adding that, “today, the
opposition parties form an association and they call themselves APC.”
He
contended that if the PDP governors felt that there were certain things
that are exclusive to them as PDP governors — in the PDP manifesto that
they needed to discuss “and try as much as possible to make sure that
they implement the programmes and manifesto, we should do that.”
“But
the Governors Forum is Nigeria’s Governors Forum. I had the privilege
of going to the annual general meeting of the American Governors Forum.
PDP has its own interest to unite and discuss our own problems,” he
added.
No comments:
Post a Comment