8th October, 2013
Nigeria’s Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Alhaji Kabiru Turaki, has said that dialogue was going on with key members of the Boko Haram sect to end the insurgency in parts of the north. He also revealed frustrations encountered with appearance of fake members of the sect whose mission was to collect money.
Turaki said this in Abuja on Tuesday when he spoke to newsmen after briefing members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the ministry`s activities.
The minister said that the situation was being handled by the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Conflict in Northern Nigeria.
The committee, of which he is Chairman, was constituted by President Goodluck Jonathan and charged with the responsibility of bringing lasting peace to the north.
He stressed that the committee was identifying and engaging key members of the sect in talks.
He, however, said the committee had been having some challenges in the course of carrying out its assignment.
Such challenges, he said, included the showing up of fake persons claiming to be members of the sect.
He said such people often showed up with a view to collecting money.
“We had seen some people who are fake members of the insurgency who had come for the purpose of getting money.
“But we had always used the instrumentality of the security agencies and information on their data bank to verify their authenticity and membership of this organisation,’’ the minister said.
The minister hinted that the report of the committee was almost completed, adding that it would be submitted to the President soon.
“About 99 percent of the assignment has been concluded and in the next few days, probably before the end of this week, we will finish the remaining one per cent.
`We will then inform the President to give us date and time to present the report.
“I would want to assure that we have been talking with genuine members of this organisation and these are people that are key as far as peaceful resolution of this matter is concerned,’’ the minister added.
Many critics doubt the usefulness of the dialogue with the sect as the sect continues to kill dozens of Nigerians in the north eastern states of Borno and Yobe.