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Boko Haram: CAN disagrees with Sultan over amnesty plea

President of CAN, Ayo Oritsejafor.

The Nigerian Christian association disagreed with the Islamic leader on Boko Haram.

The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, on Wednesday rejected the suggestion by the Sultan of Sokoto,  Sa’ad Abubakar, that members of the Boko Haram sect be offered amnesty.

This is contained in a statement issued and signed in Abuja by the CAN General Secretary, Musa Asake.

The association said it wondered the kind of amnesty proposed by the monarch and advised the Federal Government to reject such suggestion.

It, however, welcomed the idea of a stakeholders’ meeting to genuinely discuss the issues that concern the development of the country.

“We wonder the kind of amnesty contemplated by the Sultan, this is why we are puzzled.

“We therefore say categorically that we reject any offer of amnesty for members of the Boko Haram sect.

“We ask government to do same. One group of people cannot continue to pay the price for one Nigeria. We must sit together as brothers and discuss issues,’’ the statement added.

It stated that the reasons given by the Sultan for the offer of amnesty was not tenable and should not be accepted.

The association argued that the sect had not clearly stated its grievance with government or other elements of the state and hence was not qualified to be offered amnesty.

“We wonder what the Sultan meant by injustice in relation to the activities of the Boko Haram sect when members of the group are a bunch of fundamentalists who have killed, maimed, deformed Christians”, the statement read.

It said that for the talk about amnesty to hold water, the militant group must first of all renounce their extreme ideology and embrace the cease fire plan.

CAN added that President Goodluck Jonathan should first of all give the sect members a deadline within which they should organise a cease fire before any talk about amnesty would be considered.

The Sultan of Sokoto had called on government to offer total amnesty to members of the sect as part of the search for peace and security in the north.

(NAN)