Sultan of Sokoto seeks amnesty for armed groups

The Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III, on Tuesday appealed to the Federal Government to grant amnesty to all the armed groups operating in the country. The Sultan, who is also the president of Jama’atul Nasril Islam (JNI), made the call in Kaduna at the annual meeting of the Central Council of the organisation. He called on the president to declare total amnesty for all the combatants without thinking twice, adding that the gesture would make all those who failed to take advantage of the amnesty to do so. “That will make any person who takes up arms to be termed as a criminal. If amnesty is declared, so many of these young men who are tired of running and hiding, would come out and embrace this amnesty. “And we believe some of them have already come out because we have heard some of the stories in the papers, in the media. “Even if it is one person, who is a terrorist and he denounces terrorism, it is the duty of the government to accept that person as he can be used to reach others. “Whether it is true or not, the government should accept that person first then evaluate him and see whether he is genuine or fake”.