Boko Haram - No dialogue until government adopts Sharia law

The leadership of the dreaded Boko Haram, has rejected the olive branch that the Federal Government extended to it, vowing to continue its attacks, until the country adopts the Sharia legal system.

President Goodluck Jonathan had urged members of the group to come forward with its grouse to government so it would be to work out an agreement that would foster peace in the country especially in the wake of ceaseless attacks by the group on key government and private institutions, particularly in the northern part of the country.

The President in an interview session with a cable news media, Reuters at the Presidential Villa on Thursday said, "If they clearly identify themselves now and say this is the reason why we are resisting, this is the reason why we are confronting government or this is the reason why we destroyed some innocent people and their properties, why not."

His (President Jonathan's) position came as a result of the inability of the security agents, especially military personnel that have been deployed to the various flashpoints in the north to bring the activities of the group to a halt.

Reacting to the gesture, spokesman of the group, Abu Qaqa told a British Newspaper, the Guardian in an interview monitored in Lagos that Boko Haram will continue its attacks until the government succumbs to its demand.

Expressing the resolve of the group, Qaqa told the newspaper that "We will consider negotiation only when we have brought the government to its knees. Once we see that things are being done according to the dictates of Allah, and our members are released (from prison), we will only put aside our arms - but we will not lay them down. You don't put down your arms in Islam, you only put them aside."

Leadership

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