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FG sets up ‘Amnesty’ Commitee for Boko Haram

As lasting solution to the lingering state of insecurity orchestrated

by the insurgence of the Boko Haram Islamic sect, the federal government Thursday set up a committee on the proposed amnesty for members of the group.

Presidency sources after a meeting of the Security Council said the committee would work with the office of the National Security Adviser, though names of members of the committee were not made public.

However, the terms of reference for the committee ccording to Presidential villa sources are as follows: to consider the feasibility or otherwise of granting pardon to the Boko Haram adherents; collate clamours arising from different interest groups who want the apex government to administer clemency on members of the religious sect; and to recommend modalities for the granting of pardon, should such step become the logical one to take under the prevailing circumstance.

The radical group has claimed responsibility for the killing of over four thousand people and bombings, mainly in northern Nigeria.

It is worthy to note that the federal government in 2009 granted similar amnesty to the Niger-Delta militants during their uprising that brought about the fragile peace the country is witnessing in the region.