Presidential Committee: Boko Haram Dialogue Possibilities Are Not Depleted

The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of the Security Challenges in the North, Kabiru Turaki, on Sunday, said that the committee still intended to engage Islamist sect, Boko Haram, in dialogue.

Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of the Security Challenges in the North, Kabiru Turaki.

Despite the clampdown of the Joint Task Force and the declaration of a state of emergency in some states in the north, members of the terrorist group are still carrying out attacks.

However, Turaki said that in spite of the situation, dialogue would bring lasting solutions to the states affected by the insurgency.

“Let me say that conflicts are resolved not on the battlefield but on the negotiation table. We are hoping that this one will also be resolved the same way,” he said.

“There is no option to dialogue because whatever cannot be achieved through peace, we cannot achieve through violence.”

Commending the Borno State Government and security agencies for their efforts in maintaining peace in the state, Turaki, who is also the minister of special duties, thanked the state government for rehabilitating people who had to be evacuated in the course of the operations of the security agencies.

He also dispelled rumours that the committee members were shot at on a visit to Bama Local Government Area, explaining that they “met an exchange of fire between security agents and some suspected gunmen.

“The gunshots were not meant for us and it did not deter us from doing our job,” Turaki said.