THE Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), has urged the Federal Government to be wary of the conditions given by the Boko Haram sect for a ceasefire.
Mr Oyekachi Ubani, Chairman, Ikeja branch of the NBA made this known on Wednesday, in Ikeja, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Ubani, who was reacting to the declaration of a ceasefire by the sect on Monday, urged the Federal Government to take the conditions given with “a pinch of salt”.
NAN recalls that the sect had spelt out several conditions for the ceasefire, which includes the release of its detained members, as well as rebuilding a burnt mosque belonging to its late leader.
“Such proposal by these fundamentalists should only be taken with a pinch of salt as this was not the first time such promises were made and they ended up breaching it. I do not think the person making the proposal was doing so on behalf of several other sects that have emerged from Northern Nigeria.”
Ubani urged government to adopt a critical approach to the situation, adding that if their initial demands were not met, they may open fire even after their present demands were fulfilled.
A Lagos based lawyer, Mr Yemi Candide-Johnson in his reaction, said it was not advisable for the government to accept such conditions from an external “antagonistic power”.
According to Candide-Johnson, to accept such ultimatum will be akin to relinquishing the nations sovereignty to a power waging war against it.
He said that if the sect had genuinely and unilaterally decided to ceasefire, then the proof and value of such declaration would be to see it operate in fact.
The lawyer said such factual evidence would show that they had decided to adopt a political rather than a military approach in putting an end to their grievances.
According to him, where this is not the case, then the relief sought is premature, and government must tread such path with caution.
Another lawyer and social critic, Mr Spurgeon Ataene told NAN that there was no harm in engaging in dialogue with the sect.
Ataene however, said that their conditions should only be met when it was clear that a final halt had been put to the killings.
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