The Federal Government yesterday reacted to the offer of ceasefire by a faction of the fundamentalist Islamic group, Boko Haram, by giving a condition to the sect.
The condition: Boko Haram must stop its violence in the North for a period of one month.
The Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Ibrahim, stated the Federal Government’s position just as the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, summoned an emergency security meeting over increased presence of foreign immigrants in the FCT.
Ibrahim spoke with journalists at the opening of the 2013 seminar on National Security with the theme, Contemporary National Security Challenges: Policy Option, organized by the Alumni Association of the National Defence College, Abuja.
He said that while security chiefs were excited by the development, the olive branch offered by the sect called for caution.
Ibrahim said the government would only take the peace overture seriously if Boko Haram could ensure that attacks of whatever form did not take place for 30 days.
He stated that security operatives would wait for the period to see if no public place, security formation and place of worship was bombed before taking the sect seriously.
Ibrahim also said he was optimistic that the development would culminate in improved security in the country.
He said, “You see, we must treat that with a lot of caution. You understand, there are certain objective tests that will make sense. Let’s assume we can have a long period of about one month where no bomb explodes, where nobody is shot, where nobody is beheaded, where no church is bombed, where no mosque is threatened.
“If they can guarantee just one month, then we can begin to talk. You see we must take this with a lot of caution. That is what I am telling you.
Via Punch
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