Gbanite urges amnesty for Boko Haram

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

ABUJA—A Public Affairs commentator, Mr. Max Gbanite, has advised the Federal Government to grant amnesty to the Boko Haram sect members and buy back their weapons so as to assuage them to drop their arms and the violent approach they have adopted.

Gbanite also said that Boko Haram suspects cannot be successfully prosecuted for terrorist activities unless the 1999 Constitution was amended.

Gbanite stated this, yesterday, while contributing to the Paper on Militancy, Terrorism and Armed Proliferation as a threat to the national security presented by General Charles Omoriegie (rtd), at the two-day summit jointly organised by Vanguard Newspapers and the Nigeria Police Force in Abuja.

He said that the Anti-Terrorist Act does not allow the prosecution of suspected terrorists, adding that it was the duty of the Attorney-General of the Federation and the High Court to ensure that there is the enabling law to prosecute terror suspects.

He said that it was because of the implications of classifying Boko Haram, a terrorist group that the late National Security Adviser, General Andrew Azazi and some government officials travelled to the United States to plead that the sect should not be classified as terroists.

According to him, as a way of tackling the security challenges in the country, there must be process to diversify the economy.

He however, raised the alarm that cyber terrorism was gaining ground into the polity and advised the authorities to be pro-active by establishing a Police cyber crime detection unit before it ruined the nation’s economy.