• N'Assembly to tackle Boko Haram menace
• Northern youths, Dokubo condemn MEND's threat
THERE may be no end yet to the reign of terror in Borno State as gunmen suspected of members of Boko Haram sect on Sunday invaded Agapalawa and Ngoshe communities, killing two persons.
Ngoshe and Agapalawa are Nigeria's border towns with Republic of Cameroon.
Also, suspected bandits Monday raided the Pompomari, Maiduguri residence of the state former Commissioner of Poverty Alleviation and Youths Empowerment, Mr. Daniel Ijai Mamza, snatching his vehicles.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly is poised to bring to an end the Boko Haram sect insurgency within the next three months.
The Senate Deputy Whip, Hosea Agboola, who disclosed this to reporters in Ibadan expressed the Senate's concern to the activities of the sect and vowed to put an end to the scourge.
In a related development, Youths in the 19 northern states, under the aegis of Arewa Youth Forum (AYF) and the former leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahid Asari Dokubo yesterday cautioned the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) against any attempt to further fuel instability and disunity in the country through its fresh threat to avenge the Boko Haram attacks.
Besides, another group, Northern Civil Society Coalition, headed by
Mallam Shehu Sani also advised President Goodluck Jonathan not to adhere to the calls by Arewa leaders over implementing an amnesty programme on Boko Haram that would enrich them.
They pointed out that both the elders and the governors in the North were not entrenched to provide solution to the insurgency in the region.
In the same vein, a socio Yoruba organisation, Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) has reiterated its call for a national conference.
The group described the rejection of the amnesty offer by Boko Haram as a pointer to the fact that Nigeria needed nothing other than to organise a national dialogue where all issues affecting the different nation states would be discussed.
And to check insecurity in the country, the outgoing Anglican Bishop of Lagos West Diocese, Rt. Rev. Peter Adebiyi yesterday charged governments to re-introduce and strengthen the teaching of religious studies in their respective institutions.
An eyewitness and resident of Agapalawa, said that the gunmen came on two motorcycles and headed towards the house of a farmer and killed him.
He said the attackers, chanted, God is great in Arabic language, before firing several shots at the deceased
At Ngoshe, the same suspected gunmen shot dead another resident at a bus stop at 9 p.m.
Another source also told The Guardian in an interview yesterday that the second victim was killed while the gunmen were fleeing on motorcycles on the Pulka-Kughum road.
The State Police Command spokesman, Gideon Jibrin yesterday in Maiduguri, confirmed the incidents, adding that investigations had begun to fish out the culprits.
Agboola, representing Oyo North Senatorial district lamented that the menace of the Boko Haram was becoming an embarrassment to the Senate.
The lawmaker pointed out that the Boko Haram crisis was created by political intrigues in the country and could only be solved by politicians applying political method.
The Arewa Youths in a statement yesterday, by the National Director of Public Affairs, Alhaji Bello Abdulhammed, said that "the most recent threat by MEND is indeed unfortunate, callous and counter-productive," pointing out that it was meant to promote tension and crisis in the country.
Abdulhameed explained that at a time when patriotic Nigerians were all making effort to douse the tension of insecurity engendered by Boko Haram, the Niger Delta group was promoting issues that would further aggravate the problem of the nation.
"MEND is hereby warned that they do not have monopoly of ideas, strength or ability than others. The youths of the North and other Nigerians are united and shall face them to truncate any of their threats which are aimed at separating Nigerians along religious or ethnic divides for their selfish economic goals".
Dokubo who also faulted the planned amnesty for the Islamic sect differed with the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa'ad Abubakar, a known advocate of pardon for members of the sect.
Both leaders fielded questions from State House Correspondents, at Presidential Villa, Abuja after the presentation of reports of last year's hajj exercise to President Goodluck Jonathan.
Dokubo said that it is wrong in the first place government to have thought of granting amnesty for any group that perpetrate criminal activity against the state, noting that the ideal thing was for the government to prosecute such persons and where possible grant them pardon.
But Sa'ad Abubakar, who initially declined media interview, simply said he remained optimistic about the workability of amnesty, adding, "Nothing is impossible in this world".
According to Dokubo, "Actually MEND is faceless, because Henry Okah himself has denied that he is not the leader of MEND in court under oath.
"As a Muslim I do not subscribe to attacking religious centres of worship, I do not believe that MEND exist, I have always said that there is nothing like MEND. MEND is just the figment of the imagination of people, it's on the Internet, newspapers, but who is MEND, nobody can really tell you.
In a statement yesterday by the Publicity Secretary Kunle Famoriyo stated that ARG has consistently warned that offering amnesty to the sect or to any other for that matter is certainly not the solution to the crisis of nation-state confronting Nigeria.
Adebiyi made the call when he paid a courtesy visit to the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola at the State House, Alausa Ikeja, along with his successor, Rev. James Odedeji and other clerics from the Anglican faith.
The cleric noted that the rising insecurity in the country was a result of declining religious values, positing sound religious education would help make responsible citizens.
