Skip to main content

We Talk About Amnesty As If Things Are Ordinary By Tunji Abayomi

April 5, 2013

No to amnesty! I say No! If we must die,let us not die like dogs.

No to amnesty! I say No! If we must die,let us not die like dogs.



And if negotiation for amnesty is warranted then let the leaders of the North, who having abandoned their children to be anything, do the negotiation; let them secure the assurance of peace from their children, let them do what is needful for the North some of them love more than Nigeria. Let them do something new for Nigeria.

No to amnesty! I agree with President Goodluck Jonathan but for a different reason. No! am against Amnesty not because Boko Haram is invisible. To the contrary, Boko Haram is very visible in the bombed U.N House and the international workers that died, it is visible in the thousands of Nigerians already murdered in cold blood, it is visible in the churches that have been burnt with helpless worshipers, it visible in the schools senselessly razed down in defeat of the hopes of our children, it is very visible in the many that are terminally wounded in this one – way unprovoked war declared on us. Boko Haram is very visible in the amputees, it is visible in the young children and the fetus in the womb who are denied the right to life. It is visible in the horrible reputation imposed on our nation. It is visible in the unmitigated pains and trauma of parents. Boko Haram is very visible in the shattered buses and bodies of Kano. It is visible in the jail breaks and the scattered Police Stations and very visible in the many senselessly gunned down people in the North.

No! It is not because Boko Haram is not visible that I am against amnesty. It is for the simple reason that we must not as a people or as a Nation surrender our liberty to mass murderers.

Those who talk of amnesty should tell us what Boko Haram wants so that we can find a subject matter upon which negotiation can be erected. They should tell us what to negotiate with extremists and in-humanists whose principle is to murder innocent citizens in cold blood simply because they belong not to their religion which they disrespectfully misunderstand and misapply. They should tell us what will be the purpose of negotiation with illiterates who find power in guns, who insist we should return by force to the Stone Age. Will amnesty change their awful belief that “to kill is a righteous service to Allah" and shout it on the mountain top. No! to amnesty for Boko Haram! No to amnesty, for what is amnesty in Nigeria at any rate other than another corrupt appeasement of illegality and evil.

I also say no to the nations that find explanation for Boko Haram’s terror in poverty. I ask, is there any part of this nation that knows no poverty? I demand, must we wage war on life to conquer poverty? Those who are genuinely poor don’t manufacture bombs, they don’t carry AK – 47s, they don’t boast of evil on the internet. They don’t cut people’s throats while desecrating the Koran by reading it in support of cold blooded murder. Poor people that I know in the North and all over Nigeria don’t maim the poor. What they do is to work in pursuit of freedom from poverty like the ones that helped my mother to give me an education. Poverty cannot justify the choice of evil, after-all; all men know something about poverty.

As a nation, we need to be responsible,and if we are, instead of Amnesty, what we need to do is to arm ourselves in full defense of our liberty, if only to honor the many wailings from the graves that Boko Haram gave to the many who are guaranteed the right to life by our laws and custom but who were mercilessly wasted by Boko Haram.

Nigeria North, for your interest and our benefit, I say no, no to Amnesty!
 

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters

 
 

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });