Emir opposes amnesty for Boko Haram members

Emir of Anka in Zamfara State, Alhaji Attahiru Ahmad, has asked President Goodluck Jonathan not to grant amnesty to members of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram.

Sultan of Sokoto, Sa'ad Abubakar lll, had at a meeting of the Jama'atu Nasril Islam in Kaduna, last week, urged the President to grant members of the sect amnesty.

However, the Emir of Anka at a workshop on peace building and conflict management for sustainable development, organised by the National Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday in Kaduna, said 'amnesty is for people you can identify'.

He added, 'Where were our leaders when members of  Boko Haram were going to receive trainings outside the country. Let us check ourselves, if there must be justice, we must go back to the basics.'

He also blamed the current security challenges on the elite and politicians.

Ahmad said, 'From experience, I have come to realise that whenever you have crisis and a proper investigation is carried out, you always find the involvement of these two classes. Within my domain, a sad experience occurred sometimes ago when an Igbo man, who owned a shop, was attacked and his shop burnt because his son was said to have torn a copy of the Quran. But upon investigation, I found out that a native of Anka, who was also in the same business with the Igbo man, deliberately roped-in the Igbo family.

'He took a piece of paper with an Islamic inscription on it and tore it into pieces in front of the Igbo man's shop and then raised the alarm calling on all Muslims faithful to come and see a copy of the Quran torn into pieces by the son of the Igbo trader. The crowd grew angry and set the house and the shop of the Igbo man ablaze immediately. You can see that this native of Anka did this malicious act purely for personal interest and not religion. And that is how it is with the elite and the politicians'.

He added, 'As a traditional ruler, who lives with the people, I have come to a conclusion that if the common man is left alone, there is going to be peace in the land. But any place you find crisis, just look around, you must find the involvement of these two classes - the elite and the politicians.'