By Samuel Oyadongha

Yenagoa — Renowned American Rights Activist, Rev. Jesse Jackson, has thrown his weight behind the Federal Government’s decision to offer amnesty to members of the Boko Haram sect. He described the move as a deliberate step to end insecurity in the country.

According to him, the amnesty offer must be open, honoured, and implemented to include economic restitution and inclusion of destroyed Christian and Muslim structures in affected Northern parts of the country.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, in an interview in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, said the amnesty being offered by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration must be made to work and the conditions fully honoured.

He said: “The amnesty must involve economic restitution and training. On the other hand, within the United States, when there was civil unrest, there was a kind of state of emergency. But I hope the country will soon get back from the battle field to the negotiation table. At the end, matters can only be resloved at the bargaining table. It is not the battle field that wins victory. You cannot battle forever.

“You can bargain and resolve the conflict in the North. That is why I believe so much in non-violence. Non-violence does not mean fear but courage, it means the ability to figure it out and fight it out.

“You must have the ability to resolve conflict and not fight aggressively. It must not get to killing and being killed. You see, the United States was blessed five years ago when Barrack Obama became the President, because America overcame, for the first time, a kind of ethnic tribalism. We chose a candidate whose values and vision transcended racial hidden agenda.

“We live our faith under the law. We need to have strong laws that will protect us against the violation of our democratic rights. And I can say to you that most of the struggle in the Niger Delta and the ones between Christians and Muslims in the North should be solved with fairer distribution of available resources.

“The amnesty being proposed in Nigeria is hoped to have included the rebuilding of mosques and churches destroyed by insurgents. It is a sign of goodwill that will promote mutual coexistence. We must choose to coexist because we have learnt to stay apart and the insurgency has given us a harder lesson to live better and together.”