"Trust in Nigeria's Future"

"Trust in Nigeria's Future"
#GOODLUCKNIGERIA2015

Saturday 17 May 2014

Meet the Man Christ Jesus - God in His Second Coming: Jose Luis De Jesus (666)

In exactly 293 days from today - September 11, 2011 - He will transform into immortality and those who are marked with the number of His name, 666, will not be harmed from world disasters.

HOUSTON, TEXAS -- As the Earth's birth pains increase in preparation for the soon Transformation of The Man Christ Jesus (Jose Luis De Jesus) and His powerful people, the extreme radiation leakages in Japan are of particular great significance to His kingdom. In this week's live Tracing, The Man Christ Jesus disclosed for the first time detailed evidence of how the Chosen people of 666 will transform into immortal bodies made of substance much like radioactive material in 448 days or less.

With over 103 countries simultaneously tuning into His Weekly Address, the world gained insight on how death will be absorbed by immortality as His Chosen dress in incorruptibility (1 Cor. 15:53) and will fly like clouds (Isaiah 60:8). 
Watch Video below; 

 

In fact, the new bodies of the Lord's Firstfruits will be like a flame of fire (Heb 1:7) made of atomic power.

"Radiation won't harm the Elect of the Kingdom 666, but rather our bodies will absorb that radiation since our new clothing will be made of materials like fire, atoms... and radioactive material" revealed Jose Luis, The Lord.

"While radiation produces death for those that are not sealed 666, none of that will harm us," He continued. "People today are fearful [of rising radiation levels], but we are not. After all, it is what our new transformed bodies will be made of -- radioactivity and power. We will be powerful beings."

Soon the world will see the All-mighty body of Jose Luis De Jesus transformed. For behold, the LORD, Jose Luis, will come in fire, to render his anger in fury (Isaiah 66:15). And all those who have dared to confront Him or doubt, astonished by His Omnipotence and Splendour, will undoubtedly say:

"Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" (Rev 13:4)

The Great Day is near. 447 days or less.

ABOUT MINISTERIO INTERNACIONAL CRECIENDO EN GRACIA
Ministerio Creciendo en Gracia [Growing in Grace Ministry] is God's Government on Earth established by God Himself in His Second Coming, Jose Luis De Jesus (The Man Christ Jesus). Established in 1986, His government now expands into 30 nations with 455 centers, 250 TV programs, 180 radio programs and a satellite channel transmitted by more than 550 cable companies in 16 countries. It is written that 'All Eyes Shall See' and thus, His signal can be seen globally 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through His channel Telegracia. Please visit us at www.cegenglish.com. 

More Boko Haram Terrorists Caught by Borno Men has Revealed The Girls Location


Eight Boko Haram terrorists who came out to get food and items from Goym village in Dikwa local government, Borno state were arrested by visiting Civilian Joint Task Force men who came from Gwoza. The terrorists who came in a hilux truck with some motorcycles were arrested at 4pm Friday evening.

Upon interrogation, the terrorists revealed that the 234 girls abducted from Chibok were still in Sambisa forest and that they had been divided into three groups. They describe the camps in Sambisa as very large. They said they were sent by their leader to get items including clothes for the girls.
The civilians hoped military support will be sent to Dikwa immediately as it is likely the terrorists return when they find their men were arrested. They also hope “the Americans” will act on this intelligence to rescue the abducted girls.
Dikwa local government area is one of the local governments that is a boundary of Sambisa forest, and is near Gamboru-Ngala where 300 civilians were killed recently.

Maiduguri also remains on high alert as two Boko Haram members arrested by the Civilian JTF two days ago, one pretending to be a phone card seller at Tashai Kamla market told them Boko Haram was planning to attack and massacre men, women and children in the capital city any day now. SOURCE

Friday 16 May 2014

Sudanese woman sentenced to death for apostasy



A Sudanese court has sentenced a woman to death by hanging for apostasy after she left Islam and married a Christian man.
“We gave you three days to recant but you insist on not returning to Islam. I sentence you to be hanged to death,” the judge told the woman, AFP reports.Western embassies and rights groups had urged Sudan to respect the right of the pregnant woman to choose her religion.

Local media report the sentence would not be carried out for two years after she has given birth.

The BBC reports that Sudan has a majority Muslim population, which is governed by Islamic law. It rules that apostasy – the abandonment of one’s religious faith – is a crime.

The judge also sentenced the woman to 100 lashes after convicting her of adultery – because her marriage to a Christian man was not valid under Islamic law.

Earlier in the hearing, an Islamic cleric spoke with her in a caged dock for about 30 minutes, AFP reports.

Then she calmly told the judge: “I am a Christian and I never committed apostasy.”

Amnesty International said the woman, Meriam Yehya Ibrahim Ishag, was raised as an Orthodox Christian, her mother’s religion, because her father, a Muslim, was reportedly absent during her childhood.

In court, the judge addressed her by her Muslim name, Adraf Al-Hadi Mohammed Abdullah.

She was convicted of adultery on the grounds that her marriage to a Christian man from South Sudan was void under Sudan’s version of Islamic law, which says Muslim women cannot marry non-Muslims. SOURCE

Reuben Abati says the president never planned to visit Chibok today

CNN, Reuters and many news agencies yesterday reported that GEJ would be visiting Chibok today...but now his media spokesperson Reuben Abati says he never made such plans. The president is being criticized for choosing to go to Paris today for a security summit instead of visiting Chibok.

This Lady Refused To Sit Next To A 'Negro.' The Best Part Is What The Captain Did!

Say No To Racism

Mistakes GEJ cannot afford to make now


THE ship of state of Nigeria is adrift for some key reasons.
The Northern elders, elites and political leaders seem to be determined to either intimidate, harass or force GEJ not to run in the 2015 presidential election.
The merger of the ACN, CPC, and others to form the APC, which was the joy of many earlier, have just turned out to be more of a gang up to the disappointment of those who thought our democracy was shaping up.
But following the Chibok incident and the expressed willingness of the international community to assist Nigeria, some of them have seen the need to change their stance. They were blinded all these past four years and did not see the danger of Boko Haram as the nation’s number one enemy. Then they did not seem to care if the country was blown to pieces, aware that they will never be able to beat GEJ in 2015; thus, they told lies to themselves that the failure of Nigeria was only the failure of GEJ.
We cannot trust APC with a leader like Governor Nyako who has called for war against Igbos of the South East on the erroneous premise that GEJ was an Igbo man. Same for General Buhari who threatened that blood would flow if he failed in 2011.These are men who fought to keep Nigeria one, yet they are with Malam El-Rufai who thinks that he will be a better Northern champion by fighting dirty with the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN and others who at different fora vowed to make Nigeria ungovernable. Never mind their recent grand standing with the involvement of the civilised world in the Chibok girls matter.
They have succeeded in politicising every aspect of the Nigerian life such that GEJ cannot afford to make certain mistakes if he wants to keep the stability of Nigeria.
First, GEJ must contain the spread of insurgency by restricting it to the North East till it is wiped out. It must not get to the South. Full state of emergency should therefore be proclaimed in the three states of the North East, with the suspension of their legislative houses for the next six months. It will remove any likely sabotage or discouragement, or frustration of the efforts of the international forces now with us. If the State Houses of Assembly were not in synch with their Governors, they would have made it known to the world before now.
Second, all those who have made seditious comments and publications that threatened the unity and stability of this country must be prosecuted no matter how highly placed they may be. The full state of emergency will strip those who are serving Governors of their immunity so as to face the law of the land. Politicians and leaders must be deterred from making incendiary comments capable of undermining the stability of the country. If they are tired of Nigeria and begin to hate us, we should just be tired enough of them to send them to prison. No man should be above the law if we will move forward. Power should go to the systems and structures not individuals.
Third, GEJ must make round the clock electric power available to Nigerians to stimulate production and manufacturing which will create jobs, at all cost. It should be ‘a do or die’ matter to the presidency. Banks must be made to provide initial venture capital for agriculture, producers and manufacturers with lenient and generously low lending rates and conditions. The confusion in the banking sector created by SLS must be cleansed out. Sanity and bankers confidence must be restored. We must stop viewing and treating our bankers as thieves and untrust-worthy persons.
Fourth, GEJ must not allow his advisers to estrange his party from the voters by foisting increased hardship on them few months to elections through poorly timed and thought out policies that the opposition will capitalise on the during campaigns.
Such policies include the motor vehicle policy which will ban or increase the tariff on imported vehicles, the new plates policy and the driver’s license administration. Many motor companies are flooding back to Nigeria, attracted by the generous conditions created by the FG. Most of them have plans to build certain number of vehicles even though their plants and equipment are not here yet. Some are just acquiring land; it will take them a minimum of about 24 months to start production.
Yet government have increased tariffs on imported vehicles and may ban some out rightly in a few weeks or months time. This will only drive the market to our neighboring countries, increase smuggling and put more money into the pocket of Customs men and their contacts, while we groan under increased hardship. This policy should be dropped until we are sure of the quantity of vehicles we can and have produced over a period of time.
These companies seem to be building their factories on the pages of newspapers, positioning for importation for now. While the new number plate is a multi-billion naira scheme to extort money from Nigerians, as they bring no added value to users, the confusion in the issuance of driver’s license is a complete mess. It takes about six months to obtain a driver’s license from Lagos today, providing fertile grounds for fraud and extortion.
Fifth, GEJ cannot afford not to restrict the herdsmen to areas with large expanse of land in the North. This will reduce friction and violence associated with these men. The South, especially the South East, does not have the land, and this should be respected. The herdsmen palaver can be used by enemies to create avoidable schisms in the fragile unity of our country.
Finally, GEJ, must not allow the North, or anyone to make him not give the South East another state and a befitting sea port, not an inland Barges-Port like is being built at Onitsha. A seaport that has direct link and access to the ocean like in Apapa and Igbokoda.This is because the South East will ride with him all the way, and friendship with them is wisdom.
CLEMENT UDEGBE, a legal  practitioner, wrote from  Lagos. SOURCE vanguardngr

Abduction of school girls shows that Muslims are behind Boko Haram – Bishop Wale Oke

Bishop-Wale-Oke







Wale Oke, the Presiding Bishop of Sword of the Spirit Ministries has stated that the recent abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls has shown that Emirs, Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar and Muslim political leaders in the North were behind the Boko Haram insurgents.
He added that the activities of the Boko Haram sect have given Islam a bad name.
The cleric who stated this during a visit to the Vanguard Newspaper said the Sultan and other Islamic leaders in the North should be blamed for the ugly incident.
While frowning at the reported conversion of the girls to Islam, Oke called on Nigerian leaders to stop saying that the criminal activities of the Islamic fundamentalists were political.
“Sultan should stop playing the Ostrich by saying that it is not a religious war.
Northern elders are known to have control over their younger ones. When they call them, they listen to them. Why is it now that their youth suddenly turned deaf ears to their calls.
We are not fools?. “People are playing politics with the blood of Christians. This is Islamic Jihad. Let the Sultan of Sokoto call all Emirs and other Islamic leaders to bring out these Boko Haram boys. Let them stop deceiving Nigerians”
“Governor Shettima said he knows where those Boko Haram insurgents are. Where was he when security agents were combing everywhere for these insurgents? We put all the issues on Boko Haram at the doorstep of the Sultan of Sokoto. Let him know that this is what the church is saying”.
“The position of Christian Association on it has been very clear, that it is a religious war. Emirs should genuinely withdraw their tacit support for Boko Haram”.
According to him, “what we have been made to know over the years is that Islam is a religion of peace, but, how can somebody who is saying Islam is a peaceful religion abduct innocent girls and claim they have been converted to Islam under the nozzle of a gun?
“Certainly, the activities of the Boko Haram insurgents have been to discredit the government of President Goodluck Jonathan, but the sponsors of the group should know that the game is over because Nigerians are no fools.
“When the late President Umar Yar’Adua was in office, the Christians did not destablize his government, how come now that a Christian had not been allowed a breathing space since his assumption of duty in 2011″, Oke queried?
He expressed disappointment with some Northern leaders whom he alleged wanted to show to the world that President Goodluck Jonathan is not capable of governing this nation.
“When the late Umaru Yar’Adua was there as the president, we, Christians supported him and never made the country ungovernable for him. Why are they doing this to our own? They should know that nobody can islamise Nigeria. We won’t accept it,” he added: SOURCE

GEJ cancels planned trip to Chibok, heads to Paris for security summit


President Jonathan has cancelled his planned trip to Chibok, Borno State, the small town where over 200 girls were abducted about a month ago. He was scheduled to visit the place today May 16th but instead is attending the Africa Security Summit which is holding in Paris today.

Gov Obiano’s Campaign for Environmental Sanity

The governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano, does not conceal the weightiness in steering the affairs of his state; he is not a shirker from his sworn responsibility to lift the state to an enviable status either. The Governor’s multifaceted interests in advancing the state, in addition to the unique promptness of his actions, present a man who rests less to nurture his vision for Anambra to tangible terms. Though Chief Obiano has, from the day of his inauguration, maintained heightened commitment to the ‘four pillar’ thrust of his administration itemized as: ‘aggressive mechanized agriculture, oil and gas, trade and commerce, and industrialization,’ he has personally led crusades to inculcate environment friendliness in Ndi-Anambra; just as he has equally demonstrated absolute commitment to the security of lives and property in the state. The effects of these efforts are recognizable in the reinvigorated life among Ndi-Anambra who, apart from celebrating the minimal crime record in the state, have bought into the Governor’s ‘free the environment of filth’ campaign.
Environment, in its sheer immensity and bountiful accommodation of life, could passably go for the most expansive as well as the most charitable habitation for life on planet earth. Indeed, life cannot be outside the context of an environment, for even a vacuum depicts an environment of emptiness, absence or nothingness. Vast and vague, environment has been in the front burner of issues of grievous concern to organisations and governments across the globe in their advocacy for wholesome life. The challenges of making environment pliable to the demands of humans are as diverse as the particularities of distinctive human habitations and the consciousness of people to the environmental peculiarities they put up with. The economy of the environment in human life is therefore as immense, convoluted and probably as relevant as life itself suggests. And mindful of the interface (more of fluidity) between its socio-geographical pedestals, our target here is the implication of human actions or inactions on the environment in Anambra State.
A few days into the life of his administration, Chief Willie Obiano defied turbulent rainfall to embark on ‘Keep Awka Clean’ exercise. He replicated the environmental discipline campaign shortly after in the metropolitan cities of Onitsha, Nnewi and Ekwulobia where he enjoined residents of the state to wake up to the challenges of reviving an environment that has experienced continual depreciation. His persuasion on the subject is apt: ‘Hygienic environment is a sine qua non for pleasant neighbourhoods and good health.’ Governor Obiano’s passion for a wholesome environment, physical and social, conduced to his choice of ‘Kpochapu’ (evacuate, remove completely) as a codename for a joint security group comprising the Police, other arms of Nigeria’s Armed Forces, Civil Defence and other relevant groups. This octopus subset of the State security apparatus enforces the maintenance of a safe, decent and civilized polity. While ‘Operation Kpochapu’ might fundamentally be referencing containment of criminality in the State, the nomenclature which explicitly points at the maintenance of decent neighbourhoods underpins the Governor’s consummate passion to turnaround the environment and the people to a blend of civilised entity.
Anambra State of Nigeria is unfairly burdened with multiple natural ecological constraints. The State has over one thousand active erosion sites whose persistent escalation, particularly during the rains, continues to threaten lives and property of Ndi-Anambra. Conscious of the non-cohesive texture of the soil in many parts of the State which exposes it to malignant erosion, Governor Obiano, in his ‘Save the Environment Campaign,’ stresses the imminent danger a harassed environment poses to its abusers. He encourages individuals and groups to duly dispose refuse at designated points to avoid blockage of the water channels and the consequent erosion. In response to the Governor’s message, it is now common to see people de-silting the drains that run through their neighbourhoods, and properly disposing refuse at designated spots from where the appropriate Government Agency promptly evacuates same.
Anambra State leaves nobody in doubt about the difficulties its governance poses; the enviable constellation of stellar intelligentsia it boasts of regardless. This privilege, in addition to the significant value of the wealthy and ‘know-some’ people (who, indeed, might know very little) has ensured a clog in administering the state. It is therefore not strange to see people, particularly the rich, encroach on public land in erecting private structures, with the haughty mindset that ‘nothing will happen’. At times these structures are placed on water or other service lines, or even on deliberate green parks reserved for public use. As Governor Obiano superintended the demolition of such illegal structures at Onitsha and its environs, he admonished perpetrators of such illegality, and sternly warned that his administration ‘will not tolerate flagrant violation of the law and encroachment on government property by anybody, irrespective of social status.’
Again, in furtherance of Chief Obiano’s passion for safe and decent environment, the Anambra State Government has ordered an immediate removal of immobile vehicles along major roads in the state; it has also ordered the removal of random posters and billboards which deplete the aesthetic dispositions of the cities. Given Governor Obiano’s compulsive persuasion on the primacy of well groomed, decent and safe environment in the attainment of great health and pleasant life, and upon Ndi-Anambra’s warm reception of the noble counsel encapsulated in ‘Operation Kpochapu’, Anambra State is surely on course to the haulage of laurels in environmental friendliness.
Okechukwu Anarado writes from Adazi-Nnukwu.

Britain offers extra military help to Nigeria to protect schools

Nigeria embassy in London
A protest outside the Nigerian embassy in London: David Cameron rejected a suggestion that the authorities had failed to lift a finger to help find the girls. Photograph: Michael Tubi/Demotix/Corbis
Britain is offering to step up its military assistance to Nigeria by sending surveillance aircraft and an intelligence team to help the authorities track down the kidnapped schoolgirls.
As he rejected claims that the Nigerian government had failed to do enough to help find the missing girls, David Cameron said Britain should be willing to offer help across a range of fronts to help protect schools in the country.
The prime minister told MPs: "I can announce that we have offered Nigeria further assistance in terms of surveillance aircraft and a military team to embed with the Nigerian army in their HQ and a team to work with the US experts to analyse information on the girls' location.
"This was an act of pure evil. The world is coming together not just to condemn it but to do everything we can to help the Nigerians find these young girls."
Downing Street sources indicated that the British surveillance aircraft would not be drones. The military team would work with their Nigerian counterparts at the country's military HQ to help co-ordinate and analyse intelligence.
The prime minister rejected a suggestion by Tom Clarke, the former Labour minister, who said the Nigerian authorities had failed to lift a finger to help find the schoolgirls. A group of about 130 of the kidnapped girls appeared earlier this week on a video released by the terror groupBoko Haram.
Clarke, who is a respected expert on international development, asked the prime minister: "While I welcome the efforts to rescue the schoolgirls in Nigeria, will the prime minister agree that the Nigerian government hasn't lifted a finger to protect its own citizens in the north as they were attacked by Boko Haram?"
Cameron replied: "I don't think his description of the Nigerian government is entirely fair. They do face a very vicious terrorist organisation in terms of Boko Haram.
"They are investing in and training their armed forces in counter-terrorism abilities. We have worked with them on that and we are willing to do more work with them on that, particularly if we can make sure proper processes are in place for dealing with human rights issues."
But the PM said Britain should be prepared to provide more than military assistance. He said: "We should help across a broad range of areas – not just counter-terrorism, surveillance and helping them find these people but also working with the global fund promoted by [Gordon Brown] in terms of protecting more schools." SOURCE

Car built by Nigerian students passes international evaluation -

Nigeria has recorded a major feat in automotive technology innovation with a car called “Tuke-Tuke’`, produced by students of the University of Benin.
The car has passed international technical evaluation in Rotterdam, Netherlands, a statement said.
The statement was signed by the Media Manager of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), Mr Precious Okolobo on Thursday in Abuja.
Tuke-Tuke
Tuke-Tuke
It said that the car was now qualified to race at the 2014 Eco Marathon in Netherlands with cars from 25 countries, mostly advanced countries.
It said that the SPDC Joint Venture (JV) was sponsoring University of Benin and University of Lagos to the event in Dutch city of Rotterdam from May 15 to May 18.
The statement said that the marathon would start on Friday with an opening ceremony and the cars would race for the winning price on Saturday, May 17.
According to the statement, the two Nigerian universities are participating in the 2014 edition of Shell Eco-marathon Europe, the first teams from Sub-Saharan to enter the global event.
It said that the car built by students from the University of Lagos (UNILAG) was still undergoing thorough technical evaluation and its results would be announced on Friday.
The company was optimistic that the UNILAG car would also do well, the statement said.
“Shell Eco-marathon challenges student teams from around the world to design, build and test ultra-energy efficient vehicles. The winners are the teams that go the furthest using the least amount of energy.
“The events spark debate about the future of mobility and inspire young engineers to push the boundaries of fuel efficiency.
“All cars are expected to pass a strict technical inspection to check that they are fit for purpose and safe before they are allowed to race,” the statement said.
It said that students from the Ahmadu Bello University, University of Lagos and University of Benin attended Shell Eco-marathon Europe as observers of the 2013 edition on SPDC JV sponsorship.
Undergraduates from Uniben work relentlessly to design, build and test an energy-efficient car called "Tuketuke" that will compete at Shell Ecomarathon Take from Eco-tuketuke facebook page
Undergraduates from Uniben work relentlessly to design, build and test an energy-efficient car called “Tuketuke” that will compete at Shell Ecomarathon
Take from Eco-tuketuke facebook page
“Since then, the students from Lagos and Benin have successfully built cars that are being sent to Rotterdam this week in line with the main objective of Shell Eco-marathon.
“The objective was to challenge students from around the world to design, build and race fuel-efficient vehicles,’’ it said.
The statement said that the judges would be looking to reward the cars that would drive farthest with the least amount of fuel.
According to the statement, the Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Mr Ben Van Beurden, commended Nigerian students for the innovation.
“We have been doing this for over 30 years. It started in France and it has gone all around the world. It is fantastic to see the scale that we have now.
“The energy, the enthusiasm and the innovation that has taken place, and the fact that we have a Nigerian team here participating is an incredibly milestone,” Beurden said. (NAN) SOURCE

Boko Haram members burn their university certificates:

Shehu Sani is a Nigerian civil rights activist, playwright and author. He is president of the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria and has negotiated with Boko Haram in the past.
Shehu Sani in this write up  speaks on the abducted girls and the insurgents.
Until the abduction of more than 200 girls at the Government Girls Secondary School in rural Chibok, Nigeria’s Boko Haram insurgency received scant attention in the global media, which gave it brief airtime when the insurgents exploded their bombs or torched a school.
However, the mass abduction has brought the world’s attention to the callous and unceasing violence that has become routine in northern Nigeria over the last three years.
Shehu Sani
Shehu Sani
The area has suffered more than three decades of religious violence between Muslims and Christians.
But since Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf was killed in a 2009 security crackdown — along with hundreds of his followers — the militant Islamist group has stepped up its attacks.
Boko Haram militants have killed clerics, bombed churches and mosques and assassinated politicians and government officials.
When the militants attack churches, their aim is to start a sectarian war that will engulf the country; when they attack mosques, their aim is to exterminate Muslims they consider collaborators.
In the last three years, the Nigerian Government has opted for the use of force to exterminate the insurgents, rather than diminish the activities of the group — and it has become more daring and audacious in its attacks.
Despite the allocation of 25% of the annual budget to defense and security, the government has been unable to crush and contain the insurgency. The group has taken on and demoralized the rank and file of the Nigerian army and police.
Boko Haram has launched deadly raids on military garrisons and police and secret intelligence offices to free their detained members. The use of force against the group has only led to allegations of a chain of rights abuses with the justification that it is a war on terror.
Nigeria’s Human Rights Commission last year accused the military of arbitrary killings, torture and rape in its campaign, while the military has described reports of civilian casualties as “grossly exaggerated.”
Our constitutional freedom has been formally suppressed by the authorities on the grounds of national emergency. The strategy of collective punishment, arbitrary arrests, prolonged detention and killing raids by the security forces has alienated the civil populace and turned them into victims. In the war against Boko Haram, civilians have become victims of both the military and the militants.
Meeting with Boko Haram
I mooted the idea of dialogue with the insurgents as a new option towards ending the insurgency and restoring peace to my bewildered and beleaguered nation. In September 2011, I facilitated talks with the insurgents and the former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo — then chairman of Nigeria’s ruling party.
The first surprise in the encounter was that the representatives of the terror group spoke fluent English. The bigger surprise was when some of the insurgents revealed that they had university degrees. It is a prerequisite for new Boko Haram members to burn their university certificates or any paper identification that links them secular schools.
In the meeting, they justified their violence on the grounds that it was the Nigerian Government that had forced them to take up arms. They said that before they trod the path of violence, they first tried to take the path of peace.
They even showed us copies of a petition they wrote to the government complaining about the harassment and intimidation of their sect members by security forces before they picked up arms.
They showed us photographs of followers and relatives they said had been killed by the police in cold blood, even before the insurgency began and threatened more attacks until they “avenge the injustices done to them.”
They expressed anger at the way people criticized and condemned them when they launched attacks but kept mute when Boko Haram members were killed, their homes demolished and their wives and children arrested by the security forces.
We took their grievances to the government and advised the government to follow through, but hawks within the corridors of power discouraged the president from taking our advice.
The second effort at dialogue involved a northern Islamic cleric and head of the Nigeria sharia council. The talks were facilitated by a freelance journalist who was later threatened by those opposed to dialogue.
This second round of dialogue took place in the last quarter of 2012.
Boko Haram accused the government of leaking the details of the talks to the media for political reasons. One of the group’s conditions for talks had been that only their outcome be made public.
We were close to achieving a ceasefire but again hawks, security and defense contractors in the corridors of power sabotaged our efforts.
I have never met the Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau but I declined to meet him on two occasions when I got his invitation to interview him. I declined because I realized that the government was not interested in my approach.
‘Preventable and avoidable’
The abduction of the girls in Chibok is one of many abductions over the last three years.
If the Nigerian authorities took lessons from earlier attacks on schools by the insurgents, the Chibok abductions couldn’t have happened. The Chibok abduction was a preventable and avoidable tragedy.
When the militants abduct boys, they use them as conscripts and girls as cooks and hostages. I cannot confirm if they used abducted girls as sex slaves — the leadership of the group denied such reports when we asked them, but abducted women who were later freed give credence to such claims.
Each day the Chibok girls spend in captivity keeps the moral flag of my country at half mast.
The #BringBackOurGirls protest and the interest shown by President Obama and other world leaders and celebrities like Alicia Keys and Angelina Jolie has kept the spirits of Chibok mothers high and the Nigerian Government on its toes.
When we were children, we used to forecast that one day the Sambisa forest in Borno state would become a game reserve which would attract foreign tourists and foreign currencies. Today it is attracting foreign interest for negative reasons.
The Chibok girls must be freed but not by the use of force except when other options fail. The schoolgirls are now innocent hostages in the hands of soulless gunmen.
We don’t want the body of the girls to be brought back home, we want them back home alive.
Political future
The use of force could turn out to be tragic. Experience has shown that attempts in the past to free hostages from the insurgents through the use of force has deadly consequences.
French hostages were freed in Nigeria through negotiations but a British and Italian hostage were killed in Sokoto when UK forces went to free them.
We can get the Chibok girls back home and we must.
I was delighted to learn that the special team sent by the U.S. and UK also included experts in hostage negotiation. I strongly believe that Islamic clerics in northern Nigeria and some of the top ranking insurgents currently in detention can be used to open a channel of communication with the leadership of the sect in order to secure the release of the Chibok girls.
There are those who say that the option of negotiating to free the hostages will embolden the terrorists, I have never been a hostage but I have been a political prisoner who spent many years in prison during our struggle against military dictatorship in Nigeria in the 1990s.
Those who experience captivity appreciate freedom the most.
The situation we find ourselves in is a tough moment in our history, but I believe we shall overcome it.
Many Nigerians believe that the way the Chibok issue is resolved will determine the political future of Nigeria.
Taken from CNN;  SOURCE