The Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah, has backed the proposal by the Federal Government to grant amnesty to repentant Boko Haram members.
Kukah said there was the need for the government to accommodate the complaints of the aggrieved persons and put human face to resolving the insurgency in the North-East.The Bishop, in a chat during a Channels TVprogramme, ‘Hard Copy’ on Sunday Said:
“Why do we assume that security is just about guns and bullets? When Boko Haram started, I published an article titled ‘Breath not Bullets.’ I made a point that we would probably spill into a time when we would not be able to contain ourselves when those conflicts become a military operation.
“The first problem is that it is becoming capital intensive. The second problem is the human angle to the conflict. What is it that has made a decent human being to take up arm against his country?
“The problem we have is that the government has turned the Boko Haram war into military operations and turning the concept of security into guns and bullets. The question is that what is it that has been producing this discontentment? Why has the northern Nigerian become the centre of fire? We have failed to ask the right questions
“I have said it several times, we could close the window on Boko Haram today, but what is going to happen next we don’t know. The point I am making is that a country has to have high quality of listening devices about the voices of the weakest; about how people are hurt and what people are interested in.”
Kukah said he suggested that amnesty be granted to Boko Haram about five years ago, but he was vilified, adding that the majority of Nigerians misconstrued the concept.
He said the Dapchi schoolgirls’ abduction nullified the claim that Boko Haram had been weakened and called for comprehensive dialogue with the terrorists.
He noted that such move was the ultimate means to end the insurgency.