Controversy over Proposed FG, Boko Haram Dialogue

Also published in DAILY TRUST

 

Apparently motivated by the massive amounts of money plundered by some officials through the defunct Niger Delta amnesty and rehabilitation program, it seems that some faceless and devious elements are trying to capitalize on the urgent need to create an avenue for dialogue between government and Boko Haram in order to achieve their personal interests at the expense of peace.

These elements have apparently fabricated a false dialogue avenue with purported Boko Haram members, managed to involve different parties in it and indeed misled Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi into joining them, who innocently obliged hence they succeeded in selling the idea to the federal government, with a view to eventually opening a channel to siphon public funds under the pretext of compensating and rehabilitating Boko Haram fighters, who will denounce violence.

This is the mostly likely conclusion from the recent conflicting declarations by Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi and Boko Haram leadership, where Sheikh Bauchi had declared that, the federal government had begun the process of dialogue with Boko Haram through his mediation, only for Boko Haram to deny any involvement in any process of dialogue with the government through him.

Also contrary to Sheikh Bauchi’s assertion that he learnt from the purported Boko Haram members that there was no any dialogue between them and government through Dr Datti Ahmed and that they even didn’t know Dr Datti Ahmed for that matter, the real Boko Haram leadership has confirmed that there had of course been a dialogue with the federal government through Dr Datti Ahmed.

It is pertinent to recall that Dr Ibrahim Datti Ahmed, President of the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria (SCSN) had on behalf of the Council approached the President with an initiative to work through a confidential process in order to create an avenue for dialogue between Boko Haram and government, with a view to achieving peace. Mr. President welcomed the idea and advised his Principal Private Secretary; Ambassador Hassan Tukur to coordinate with Dr Datti Ahmed accordingly.

However, after the process began confidentially as it had been intended, and a contact with Boko Haram was actually established, Dr Datti Ahmed suddenly withdrew from the process citing sabotage by Ambassador Hassan Tukur, who according to Dr Datti Ahmed divulged the details of the process to the media, contrary to what had been agreed upon.

Though Ambassador Tukur denied the allegation and even went ahead in an attempt to downplay Dr. Datti Ahmed’s initiative by claiming that nobody appointed him in the first place and that he had instead brought himself in, it was clear that the confidentiality of the process was actually undermined by an insider anyway.

However, in as much as I consider the act of leaking the news to the media quite unethical and unprofessional, I nonetheless can’t understand how it justified Dr Datti Ahmed’s withdrawal from the process, especially considering the fact that, it was not Boko Haram that decided to withdraw from the process for that reason. As a matter of fact, it was not Boko Haram that put that condition in the first place. Moreover, it is obvious that, no matter what, the goal pursued through such process is worth any effort, compromise and indeed sacrifice in order to achieve it.

Anyway, the detailed description of the process of the purported dialogue between federal government and Boko Haram as given by Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi on one hand and the outright denial by Boko Haram on the other represent a confusing dilemma; the most reasonable explanation of which is that, there is a foul play into which Sheikh Bauchi was misled by some unscrupulous people to give credence to their fraud, as I explained earlier.

This is why many people including Boko Haram themselves advised the Sheikh to stay away from that false process in view of the huge respect he commands across the country as a prominent Islamic scholar.

Interestingly enough, the masterminds of this fraud did not seem to have done their homework perfectly, otherwise they wouldn’t have involved Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi in their fraud in the first place. This is due to the irreconcilable ideological differences between Boko Haram, which represents a fanatical brand of Salafi movement, and Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, who is equally an uncompromising Sufi ideologue of the Tijjaniya sect.

Incidentally, their ideological differences amount to the situation where neither party regards the other as a full Muslim, to say the least for that matter. For instance, during the 2011 presidential election, Sheikh Bauchi encouraged Muslims to elect a non-Muslim presidential candidate against any Muslim candidate deemed to be of Izala persuasion, from which (i.e. Izala) Boko Haram incidentally originated. And by the way, both Izala and Boko Haram oppose (with exceptional passion) the doctrine of Sufism in general and Tijjaniyya sect in particular.

Anyway, the most unfortunate thing is that, even after Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi’s declaration and its subsequent dismissal by Boko Haram, the federal government does not yet seem to be serious to find the right channel through which it could establish a real contact with the real Boko Haram leadership. This is despite the fact that it is increasingly becoming necessary to engage them in dialogue, especially considering the obvious failure of the security measures to end the crisis.

After all, it was the same government’s apathetic handling of Dr Datti Ahmed-led initiative that caused the collapse of the only serious dialogue so far with Boko Haram, thereby giving some apparently dishonest people a chance to fabricate a false dialogue process with false Boko Haram leaders.

It is never too late to revive such talks anyway or introduce a fresh initiative to bring them to dialogue, after all, they had shown their willingness to engage in dialogue in the past, and I believe they could still be persuaded to resume talks with the government if the right mediators are engaged in the process and the government handles it with sincerity and professionalism.