Nigeria's Islamist rebel group rejects amnesty deal

Last week, the governor-elect of Borno State, Northern Nigeria offered an amnesty deal to Boko Haram, the Islamist rebel group headquartered in his state. Since 2009, Boko Haram has staged numerous attacks and assassinations, including the murder of prominent politicians in Borno during Nigeria’s most recent campaign season. Governor-elect Kashim Shettima explained that theamnesty program, explicitly modeled on “aspects of the amnesty programme offered to militants in the country’s oil-producing Niger Delta region,” would involve “invit[ing] [Boko Haram] to a negotiating table as soon as we are in office to find out from them what their problems are and find solutions to them.” The idea of an amnesty has generated controversy, but Shettima seems to believe that a temporary peace would create the conditions for a lasting redress of grievances and the prevention of further violence.

Boko Haram has rejected the amnesty offer in word and now deed. The verbal reaction came in ideological form:

"The spokesman of the sect who gave his name as Abu Dardam in a BBC Hausa programme monitored in Maiduguri [the capital of Borno State], stressed that their reason of not accepting the amnesty is that they don’t recognise democracy as a form of government.

The group also faulted the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, saying that justice can only be found in the Holy Quran, that is Shariya system of government."

More on Boko Haram’s statement here.

The physical reaction came in the form of shootings:

"Suspected members of an Islamist sect blamed for a series of attacks in northern Nigeria have shot and killed a driver for a state governor as well as a local chief, police said Friday.

The driver, Mai Kadai, had just left home Friday morning and was on his way to the Borno state governor’s office when two gunmen on motorcycles shot him dead, said police commissioner Mohammed Jinjiri Abubakar.