The Presidency has said the news on granting of amnesty to Boko Haram still remains a rumour but it has its numerous advantages.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, spoke on this and the twin issue of herdsmen killings on Sunday in an interview with newsmen.
Shehu said the amplification of the issue of the clashes between farmers and herdsmen was because the opposition could not engage President Muhammadu Buhari based on issues.
Asked if the farmers/herdsmen crises had not rubbished the Buhari Administration’s goal of securing lives and properties, Shehu said “The problem between farmers and herdsmen predates the independence of Nigeria.
“If you read history, you will see that farmers and herdsmen had fought for space in this country, even when British colonial rulers were here.
“So, this is not something new.
“I am not saying it is welcome but I think it is over amplified now.
“There is a media spotlight on it because the opposition cannot engage Buhari administration on any other issue other than this lacuna that they have found.
“They cannot discuss the war against corruption because that’s a very uncomfortable area for them.
“They don’t want to discuss issues of infrastructure with Buhari.
“They don’t want to discuss economic diversification in which this administration has achieved a lot of success.
“Today, we have 12 million rice farmers in this country.
“Six million new jobs are being created in other sectors by agriculture alone.
“Food import has gone down by 95 per cent.
“We are feeding ourselves.
“This year the government is planning a ban on rice importation.
“So we are doing so well moving from over reliance on oil to agriculture and manufacturing.
“Therefore, I am not saying that it is okay that the farmers and herdsmen are fighting, but we are doing a lot.
“You can see that the recent activity, especially the military operation now in the North Central section of the country, has led to the recoveries of large quantities of weapons illegally held by militias and even herdsmen.
“So something is being done about it.
“I know by the time this is done with, I don’t know what else the opposition will be talking about.”
Speaking on the assertion in the social media that President Buhari is shielding herdsmen from prosecution and begging them to accept amnesty, Shehu said: “Well, I hope you also realise that the social media has brought a lot of good things to the world and it has also brought a lot of problems not only in Nigeria but everywhere in the world.
“Nations of the world are talking about regulations and control.
“This is happening in Germany, in the UK, even the US you see that a lot these technology companies are being fined for infringements that they cause.
“It’s always been heard that the default position of the social media itself is to be negative, so people have turned out to ignore grand reality and project images that are very negative.
“Otherwise, I wonder: this is an administration that has done extremely well and to a President who has sworn to an oath to defend the constitution and protect every life and property, it is very unfair and uncharitable to say that he will shield anybody.
“And, in any case, the President controls only one layer of authority.
“What are the governors doing?
“Is the social media also saying that the governors are protecting the herdsmen from the law?
“Are they saying the local governments are also protecting them?
“You see, it has to take everyone at various levels of authority to shield somebody from the law in those circumstances.
“And the President himself, his passion is for the country, this is a President whose passion is not even for the office.
“Even when everyone is asking him to go for a second term, he is keeping quiet because his focus remains the nation and the problem of the country.”
On amnesty to Boko Haram terrorists, Shehu said: “Whoever is peddling these rumours that Boko Haram is being granted amnesty and so on I would ask them: who doesn’t want to make peace with the enemy?
“In any case, as it is proverbially said, all wars end up in the boardroom.
“You can defeat people technically in the field, but at the end you must come to the conference room to resolve all issues.
“So, if Boko Haram would lay down their arms and stop fighting and stop preaching that negative ideology, the country should be able to embrace them, welcome all of them so that they continue to live normal lives and be useful to the nation.
“What that means is that we will be saving cost, saving lives that are being lost through bombing, killing of service personnel and we will be saving money that we are using to procure weapons so that such money can go into services and infrastructure and welfare of the citizens of this country.
“It is a win-win situation.”
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