The Ceasefire deal•Boko Haram demands N26bn from FG, Borno govt

•Boko Haram demands N26bn from FG, Borno govt
By ADE ALADE
The Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, popularly called Boko Haram, has asked the federal and Borno State governments to compensate its leadership, members and families of its dead members, as a major condition to sustain the one-week-old ceasefire it announced last Monday.  Saturday Sun gathered exclusively that the sect’s demand for monetary compensation, which will cost both the federal and Borno State governments nothing less than N26 billion has already been accepted by the Borno State government, which has been the worst hit by the activities of the sect.
The amount, it was gathered, could be more or less depending on the total number of the sect members that have been killed by the security agencies.  According to a highly placed source, “the money being demanded by the sect leaders, they claim they will use it to compensate themselves, their members for all their losses, especially their houses, cars and businesses that have been destroyed by government.
They also said they need the money to take care of the families of their members that had been killed by soldiers. So, the figure for now can’t be less that N26 billion, but could be far more depending on the number of the sect members the government agreed its security agencies had killed so far. The figure can only be less if some government brings in some negotiation tricks.”
A top security source, who has the details of the meetings between Boko Haram representatives and the Borno State government officials, also told Saturday Sun that the same demand had earlier been made by the sect about six months ago but was not well treated by the Federal Government.  According to the source, “the latest ceasefire by the sect is hinged on the same demand that had been made about six months ago when the people in Abuja, led by the new NSA, I mean Dasuki, went into peace talks with the sect leaders.
I think the peace process crashed then because the Federal Government was not ready to commit a kobo on the sect members, like it did and still doing for militants in the Niger Delta region.  “So, the sect resumed hostilities, which got worse; but in the present case, the Borno government has offered to pay the sect part of the money, encourage other states, like Yobe and the Federal Government to contribute the rest. This is though not the only demand, but the decision of the Borno government to agree to the deal has led to the ceasefire, which came after over four weeks of secret talks with trusted aides of the governor.”