FG, Boko Haram declare ceasefire

The Federal Government announced yesterday that leaders of Boko Haram, a sect which has terrorised the country, have accepted government proposals and agreed to a ceasefire. However, before the government signed its statement announcing the truce, yet-to-be identified gunmen laid siege on a highway near Shaffa village in Hawul local government area of Borno State, […]

The Federal Government announced yesterday that leaders of Boko Haram, a sect which has terrorised the country, have accepted government proposals and agreed to a ceasefire. However, before the government signed its statement announcing the truce, yet-to-be identified gunmen laid siege on a highway near Shaffa village in Hawul local government area of Borno State, killing eight travelers and taking away others.

This is coming as Cameroon said its forces had killed 107 fighters from the sect in clashes across its border with Nigeria. The clashes in Cameroon’s Far North region began after the militants crossed the border between the towns of Amchide and Limani on Wednesday and continued on Thursday from around 11 a.m. (6 a.m. EDT), said Defence Minister Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o in a statement. Eight Cameroonian soldiers were killed and seven wounded in the fighting, he was quoted.
The Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri, who broke the news of the deal at a press briefing yesterday in Abuja said the terrorists have announced a ceasefire in furtherance of their desire for peace. The Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Alex Badeh also confirmed that the Nigerian Armed Forces and Boko Haram insurgents have agreed to an immediate ceasefire.
Reports suggested that the CDS had directed all field officers to comply with the ceasefire agreement to smoothen the path to an amicable resolution of the lingering crisis.
Omeri also confirmed that the FG has been making contacts with representatives of Boko Haram and the parley is mainly focused on how to salvage the general insecurity situation in Nigeria.“They also assured that the [Chibok] schoolgirls and all other people in their captivity are all alive and well,” he said.
Speaking on the development, former military governor of Kaduna state, Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (rtd) yesterday  in Kaduna prayed that  the offer for ceasefire by Boko Haram sect members should stick,  in order  to bring an end to the insecurity  ravaging  the Northeast and the country in general. He told Weekly Trust that he firmly believes that the offer was meant to stabilize the security situation if it was adhered to by both the sect and government.
 “I have no option but to be confident of the cease fire offer. I pray for the sake of this country, humanity and global peace that the cease fire will hold. I hope that the offer will bring an end to the insecurity in the country,” he said.
But prior to the ceasefire agreement, the FG and its Cameroonian counterpart  held discussion on how to perfectly tackle insurgency in the two territories. A communiqué issued after the three day meeting, which also involved the neighbouring countries of Chad and Niger resolved that each party should coordinate and plan its operations under the agreed permanent simultaneous operations, while guaranteeing information flow through agreed liaison officers and focal points at the tactical operational levels.
 “The Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff laid special emphasis on the excellent state of cooperation between the two countries and the will for the collective determination to address the challenges of terrorism and other acts of criminality confronting both countries especially in the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC). The objective of the meeting was to enhance cooperation and collaboration to agree on ways and means for effective military operations to curb the insecurity and criminality between the two countries’ common borders.
Meanwhile, as news of the truce deal with Boko Haram insurgents elicited jubilation among Nigerians, especially within government circles, experts and residents of Maiduguri, the hotbed of the Boko Haram insurgency yesterday expressed doubts over the FG and the armed forces claim of ceasefire and truce with the leadership of Boko Haram. They argued that the statement clearly contradicted the identified pattern Boko Haram has spoken on issues in the past, as they wondered why the FG failed to weigh the matter properly before accepting the dummy and publicizing it.
Residents of Maiduguri also faulted the statement credited to the Chief of Defence Staff to the effect that troops engaging the insurgents should stop, expressing fears that the security of millions of people has been compromised and jeopardized with such grandstanding.
Since the killing and arrest of almost all the Boko Haram spokesmen, only Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the group which security forces presumed dead has been releasing videos which in the last two years usually express the position of the sect. But neither Shekau nor his latest spokesman who goes by the pseudonym Abu Zinnira have commented on the latest announcement of a ceasefire. Similarly, experts expressed doubt if the ceasefire agreement was endorsed by mainstream Boko Haram.
Barrister Zannah Mustapha, the founder of the Future Prowess Foundation for the Orphans said it would be good news if the deal was true. But he, however, noted that the federal government should have learned from history and scrutinized the purported ceasefire assertions before going public with the story. He said fake Boko Haram leaders had swindled agents of government in the past only for the real leadership of the sect to come out with contrary views, thereby putting the integrity of Nigerian authorities at stake.
Mustapha said: “We only heard an impromptu report this morning that a ceasefire has been reached instead of seeing the agents of the FG and the sect representatives sitting side by side to make the all-important announcement. We must remember that in the past, many people have camouflaged and pretended to be leaders of the sect. And finally, the military recently announced that they engaged the insurgents in serious battles in parts of Adamawa State. How possible is it that they suddenly reached a truce?”
Even in the face of many possibilities – and impossibilities – Nigerians remain hopeful, and with bated breath that the Boko Haram insurgency has indeed come to an end. Whether those hopes will be dashed or realised, remains to be seen.