Presidential spokesperson raised views that seem to support concerns raised by critics of amnesty.<\/p>\n
No northern leader assured President Goodluck Jonathan of Boko Haram\u2019s preparedness to accept amnesty ahead of Thursday\u2019s inauguration of an amnesty committee, as none of the leaders admitted contacting the group, the presidency has said.<\/p>\n
Presidential spokesperson, Doyin Okupe, said \u201cno person or group\u201d from the region told the president they had spoken to the extremist group, although he did not give details about the processes leading to the setting up of a committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no person or group from the north that has come to the government to say we have spoken to our people,\u201d presidential spokesperson, Doyin Okupe, told PREMIUM TIMES.<\/p>\n
Mr. Okupe spoke to PREMIUM TIMES exclusively on Thursday; the same day the president approved a committee to consider the possibility of granting amnesty to the group. The committee is to report to the president in two weeks.<\/p>\n
It is not clear if any contact has been established with the group since the committee was named. But Mr. Okupe said the region\u2019s elite, who have for weeks drummed the need for amnesty as the final therapy for the deadly insurgency, have consistently told the president they had no contact whatsoever with the group and its leaders.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn fact, the leadership in the north is even saying they themselves do not know them, so who do you grant amnesty to? People are not being honest or truthful, and there is no need to divide the country on this issue,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Premium Times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Presidential spokesperson raised views that seem to support concerns raised by critics of amnesty. No northern leader assured President Goodluck Jonathan of Boko Haram\u2019s preparedness to accept amnesty ahead of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7187,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n