APC Asks Boko Haram to Lay Down Arms, Embrace Dialogue

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Lagos, Latest Headlines, News Tuesday, October 1st, 2013

APC Interim Spokesperson, Lai Mohammed

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on Boko Haram to immediately cease all attacks and embrace dialogue in the interest of national peace and security, following what is undoubtedly a resurgence of deadly attacks believed to be perpetrated by the sect.

In a statement issued in Warri, Delta State by its Interim National Publicity, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party strongly condemned the latest of such attacks that left many students of the College of Agriculture in Yobe dead and injured on Sunday, calling the killings dastardly, senseless and indefensible.

It called on traditional, religious, political and opinion leaders in the affected areas to intervene urgently to end the cycle of violence being perpetrated by the sect.

”It is clear that this Boko Haram menace cannot be resolved by the government alone, hence all stakeholders must urgently intervene to complement government’s efforts to end the insurgency and get those behind it to embrace dialogue.

”There can be no justification for Boko Haram to continue to kill and maim innocent citizens, especially because the victims are not just fellow Nigerians like them, but most are actually their kith and kin,” APC said.

The party described the continued violence by the sect as inexcusable, especially at a time that the government had offered an Olive Branch by setting up a committee to dialogue with the sect.

‘”We in the APC have been unrelenting in our advocacy for dialogue as a way of ending the insurgency. Fortunately, the government has also embraced dialogue, after initially resisting it as an option.

‘’Boko Haram should remember that they are not fighting an external war, and that their grievances, whatever they are, can never be resolved by continued killing, maiming and plundering. They must therefore put an immediate end to their cycle of violence and opt for dialogue. The longer this violence continues, the more difficult it becomes to resolve. Enough is enough,” it stated.