An Abuja-based group, Centre for Crisis Communication, said on Tuesday that some Boko Haram elements have approached it for dialogue as a way of ending the seeming intractable insurgency in the country, particularly in the North-East.
According to the Executive Secretary of the centre, Air Commodore Yusuf Anas (retd.), who addressed the press on sundry national issues including terrorism, stated that he and his team were already in the process of facilitating a meeting with relevant government agencies.
While expressing support for the declaration by President Muhammadu Buhari that the Federal Government is willing to dialogue with genuine leaders of the terrorist group, Anas noted that the government’s position had become imperative in view of the fact that military option alone had failed to end the insurgency.
“The centre, however, suggests that such dialogue should be done with every sense of caution and responsibility, bearing in mind the previous disappointments that attended attempts at negotiations. Considering the unspeakable atrocities which the group has visited on Nigeria and Nigerians, this option is no doubt a hard sell. The centre views this gesture as good. It has opened a window of opportunity for dialogue for those insurgents that are willing and ready to lay down their arms.
“This position is predicated on calls made to this centre by some members of the Boko Haram group requesting for genuine and comprehensive dialogue that could lead to hundreds of them coming out to renounce their membership. Nevertheless, the centre will continue to support and encourage all efforts towards bringing insurgency to an end in our country,” Anas said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
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