Former governor of Anambra state, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife has debunked insinuations that Boko Haram operatives who embark on suicide missions believing that certain freebies will be directly allocated to them when they get to heaven are simply misleading themselves.
Ezeife who spoke on African Independent Television, AIT, show tagged ‘Focus Nigeria’ said any Boko Haram member who blow himself because of the freebies will die for nothing.
“People went to school and instead of education, they got brainwashing. Whoever told you and you believe it by yourself that you go and commit suicide and you make heaven, whether in the Koran, the Hadith or the Bible, there is no circumstance for a suicide. If you kill yourself, you go to hell. There is nothing like a second chance for such a person because you are dead and there is no way you can go and confess your sins and be forgiven”, he stressed.
While commenting on underlying ideologies of the Boko Haram and the Niger Delta militants, the former governor maintained that there is no basis for comparing the two. According to him, in the case of the Niger Delta, the grievances were based on concrete terms which he said bothered on economic deprivations and human rights violations whereas the Boko Haram insurgent has been seized by some criminal elements to perpetrate mayhem in the region.
Responding to a question, he insisted that, “some people are saying that the purpose of this Boko Haram is to get power back to the north. There is no way they are going to get back power riding on the shoulders of Boko Haram. It cannot work. It will not work”.
On the plan to grant amnesty to the Boko Haram sect, Dr. Ezeife said it is the right step in the right direction and enjoined the concerned authorities to comprehensively study the pros and cons of the situation in order to come out with lasting solutions.
He commended the military for maintaining peace in the affected areas noting that the amnesty should be discussed side-by-side with military presence in all the affected states just as he debunked the analogy that the western world will view Nigeria as promoting violence in some underhand dealings such as granting of amnesty to those who have taken up arms against the country.
On his part, a security consultant, Mr. Max Gbanite attributed the insurgents to the erosion of social system as well as the influence of foreign radio stations beamed to the north. He said such transmissions which are carried out in a language that made it possible for insurgents to pick certain incoherent ideas has dealt a heavy blow on the psyche of the people in that region.
Gbanite however pointed out that the Boko Haram activities should not be viewed as a problem that has affected the northern region alone but one that has a national dimension.
He also made case for prosecution of those who have sponsored such activities.