Imam Abubakar Shekau
Wanted Boko Haram leader, Abubakar
Shekau, could be tried for terrorism in the United States or in
courts of partner nations if caught, the U.S. Acting Assistant Director
of Diplomatic Security Threat Investigations and Analysis Directorate,
Kurt Rice, has said.
Rice whose country on Monday placed $23m
bounties on five leaders of terrorist groups in West Africa, including
Shekau, spoke at a joint tele-news conference with David Gilmour, Deputy
Assistant Secretary for African Affairs.
The joint tele-news conference coincided
with President Goodluck Jonathan’s approval of the proscription of
Boko Haram and Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis Sudan and the
gazetting of an order declaring the group’s activities illegal and acts
of terrorism.
During the conference which was aired
to audiences in Abuja, Lagos, Accra in Ghana, Dakar in Senegal and
Niamey in Niger Republic, Rice also explained that the highest bounty of
$7m was placed on Shekau because the US had “seen increases in the
terrorist capabilities of the Boko Haram” under his leadership.
Rice said the major aim of placing
bounties was to bring the terrorists to account in courts in the US or
before courts of partner nations where they (terrorists) operate.
“The whole exercise is to bring these
people before American courts or of partner nations whether it be in
Nigeria; whether it be anywhere in North or West Africa,’’ he said when
asked where the terrorists would be likely tried.
He also explained that the intent of
Washington in offering the rewards through the Justice Programme was
“to work with our Nigerian partners to try and make (Nigeria) a more
stable and secure area.”
Rice, who expressed the hope that the
capture of Shekau would “check” the deadly attacks by Boko Haram in the
Northern part of Nigeria, added that the US had through the Justice
programme paid out $125m (about N19.8bn) to more than 80 people, who
provided information leading to the arrests of terrorists since 1984.
“The fact is that this is a shared fight
against terrorism. This is one tool we have against terrorism and we
find that overtime it has been enormously effective and it has saved a
lot of lives and we want to continue doing that,”he said.
But he stressed that the US would
carefully vet information provided by individuals on the whereabouts of
the Boko Haram leader. He added that persons who have links with
Shekau or any terrorist organisation who provide information about him
would not benefit from the $7m bounty.
Rice said, “The Reward for Justice
programme is meant to get information from people who have been
horrified by terrorist acts worldwide and want to prevent this type of
thing.
“We don’t pay rewards to terrorist
organisations. The fact is that we are looking for information and when
we get the information we will carefully vet it before reward is ever
paid out: to be absolutely sure that the people who are worthy of the
awards are not connected with terrorist organisations and they don’t
ever get a cent of this money.”
Also speaking, Gilmour ruled out
suggestions that the $7m (N1.1bn) bounty offered on the head of Shekau
could be counter-productive to Nigeria government amnesty offer for the
insurgents.
Gilmour reiterated the US position that
security-based solution was not the only way to address the current
security challenges in Nigeria.
He said Washington recognises that in
Northern Nigeria, there are legitimate grievances such as social
inequality and youth unemployment.
Gilmour therefore urged “the Nigerian
government to take seriously those grievances of the general population
of Northern Nigeria.’’
To security operatives, currently
conducting military operations in three North Eastern states, under a
state of emergency, he advised them to try and build the confidence of
the population to keep them safe.
He said, “We’ve made the point that
security forces particularly need to build the confidence of the
population. This is something that we’ve seen around the world with
insurgencies and these types of situations.
“The population needs to have the
confidence in the government to keep them safe and the government needs
to be responsive to the needs of the people.”
Under the latest reward programme, the
US offered $5m reward on Al-Qaeda’s Mokhtar Belmokhtar, accused of
being responsible for the Algerian gas plant attack that killed three
Americans and 34 other foreigners in January.
An additional $5m was offered to help
arrest AQIM leader Yahya Abou Al-Hammam, believed to have been involved
in the murder of an elderly French hostage in Niger in 2010.
The reward programme also targeted
Malik Abou Abdelkarim, a senior fighter with AQIM, and Oumar Ould
Hamaha, the spokesman for Mali’s Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West
Africa.
But as the US defended the bounty on
Shekau, the Northern Elders Forum argued that it could complicate
issues relating to the Boko Haram insurgency.
The Spokesman for the NEF, Prof. Ango
Abdullahi, said this in a telephone interview with one of our
correspondents in Abuja, on Tuesday.
Explaining the implication of the
action, Abdullahi said, “I still believe that the insurgents have
concentrated on our national institutions so far as far as I can
analyse. If there is sufficient lobby or pressure for outside powers to
come in for whatever reason, then perhaps, this issue is likely to be a
little bit more complicated than it is.
Meanwhile, the Special Adviser to the
President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, has said that the
proscription of Boko Haram and Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis
Sudan has been gazetted as the Terrorism (Prevention) (Proscription
Order) Notice 2013.
He said in a statement on Tuesday that
the President’s approval of the order was in pursuant to Section 2 0f
the Terrorism Prevention Act, 2011 (As Amended).
According to Abati, the approval by
Jonathan officially brings the activities of both groups within the
purview of the Terrorism Prevention Act and any persons associated with
the two groups can now be legally prosecuted and sentenced.
The statement reads in part, “The
proscription order warns the general public that any person
‘participating in any form of activities involving or concerning the
collective intentions of the said groups will be violating the
provisions of the Terrorism Prevention Act.
“Section 5 (1) of the Act prescribes a
term of imprisonment of not less than 20 years for any person who
knowingly, in any manner, directly or indirectly, solicits or renders
support for the commission of an act of terrorism or to a terrorist
group.
“For the purposes of subsection (1) of section, ‘support’ includes -
(a) incitement to commit a terrorist act
through the Internet, or any electronic means or through the use of
printed materials or through the dissemination of terrorist information;
“(b) receipt or provision of material
assistance, weapons including biological, chemical or nuclear weapons,
explosives, training, transportation, false documentation or
identification to terrorists or terrorist groups;
“(c) receipt or provision of information or moral assistance, including invitation to adhere to a terrorist or terrorist group;
“(d) entering or remaining in a country for the benefit of, or at the direction of or in association with a terrorist group; or
“(e) the provision of, or making
available, such financial or other related services prohibited under
this Act or as may be prescribed by regulations made pursuant to this
Act.”
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