Boko Haram denied dialogue move throughAhmed – Cleric

Renowned Northern Islamic cleric, Sheikh Usman Bauchi,said on Wednesday that members of the Boko Haram said they never asked Dr. Datti Ahmed to mediate between them and the Federal Government. Bauchi, speaking on the Hausa service of the Voice of America monitored in Kaduna on Wednesday, said the sect members told him that they had nothing todo with Ahmed or asked himto mediate on their behalf with the Federal Government. Said the cleric, “They told me that apart from myself, they had never discussed the issue of mediating with the government with anybody. “They said they never asked him to speak on theirbehalf. They rely on me withconfidence and I believe theFederal Government will notbetray that trust and I will not disappoint them equally.” Datti had claimed that as a concerned elder in the region and President of the Supreme Council for Shariahin Nigeria, he was disturbedby the massive violence in the country. He said this informed his decision to mediate betweenthe sect and the Federal Government. But Bauchi noted that during his meeting with the sect’s members, which was made possible by the BauchiState Government, the members distanced themselves from Ahmed’s claim. The cleric claimed that the government was being represented by Alhaji Hassan Tukur from the Presidency while he was mandated by the sect members to mediate on theirbehalf with the Federal Government. Meanwhile, the Kaduna State Government on Wednesday warned a Christian group parading themselves as a militia group to steer clear from any act capable of disrupting the relative peace in the state. The Special Adviser, Christian Matters to Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, Rev. Joseph Hayab, lamented the intention of the group to wage a war against non-Christians in the southern part of the state, saying Christianity did not habour killings. Hayab said, “Within the week there was a statementgoing round within Kaduna State and the nation at large by a group ‘Akwat Akwop’, who in their statement gave one week ultimatum to Fulani
herdsmen to leave the whole of Southern Kaduna or face spontaneous attacks by the militant sect of the said organisation who were presented as Christian militias.”
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