ISLAMIC sect, Boko Haram, has said that until its members arrested by the police and detained in various prisons are released unconditionally, dialogue with the Federal Government may not be feasible.
Spokesman of the sect, Abul Qaqa, gave the demands in a phone in interview with newsmen on Thursday in Maiduguri on the “dialogue and implementation” of the Ambassador Galtimari security report on the North-East sub-region of the country.
“We cannot cease our fire and bombings in the North while our arrested members are still in the various prisons,” Qaqa said, stressing that they must all be released before the sect can accept and fully take part in the dialogue with the Federal and Borno state governments.
He added: “The recipe for peace in the North is the unconditional release of all our members in Nigerian prisons. Let me repeat what I said: all our arrested members must be released, before any attempt of going into negotiations with the Federal Government.
“All the top government officials and traditional rulers in the country are however sleeping in the comfort of their rooms and singing the songs of dialogue and cease fire, while our members are being persecuted. This is unacceptable and we will not condone it.”
While taking responsibility for the attacks and bombings of Joint Task Force (JTF) Headquarters in Maiduguri; and Damaturu and Potiskum in Borno and Yobe states respectively on November 4, 2011, he said: “I am calling on President Goodluck Jonathan, Senate President, David Mark, Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke to expedite action on the immediate release of all members of the sect.
He gave the name of the suicide bomber who attacked and bombed the anti-terrorism building in Damaturu as Mohammed Usman, alias Baana.
“We see him as an exceptional martyr because it was barely four days after joining the Muslim sect when he pleaded that we should allow him to carry out the attacks and bombings of military and police formations.
“He used a Honda Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) and that was the very day that he learned how to drive. He was a successful businessman and is survived by a wife and son.”
Qaqa said 26-year-old Abi Yusuf was responsible for the bombing of the JTF headquarters in Maiduguri, adding: “Yusuf was also a martyr who we are going to miss a lot because of his outstanding mastery of how to improvise explosive devices used in targeting some of the military and police formations in the North.”
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