A coalition of non-governmental organisations has sent a request to President Goodluck Jonathan to deploy former governor of Zamfara State, Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima, as a special envoy and presidential adviser on religious harmony in the northern part of the country. ?The Conference on Security, Development and Democracy in Nigeria (CSDDN), a coalition of 79 civil society groups, ?made the call in a communique jointly signed by the group’s national cordinator, Olufemi Aduwo and treasurer, Ramatu Bala Usman, and released after a meeting of its governing council. ? The communique said that, “The choice of Yerima is duly informed by his acceptance across the north as a political and religious leader, and he stands in the position to educate those calling for the practice of Sharia’a law in the north.”
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? The Boko Haram malice, CSDDN said, “should not be misconstrued ?as opposition of the north against President Jonathan.?
“We, therefore, call on the Niger Delta militants threatening to retaliate if the Boko Haram carried out any more bomb attacks, as a move for war than the peace every Nigerian is yearning for.” ?
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The coalition also suggested that politicians who were incapable of winning elections by the ballot were behind the Boko Haram, in anticipation of the 2015 general election, and pledged its support of the president’s proposed constitutional amendment to limit the tenure of future presidents and governors to single six-year term, as it was, “A pointer to the peaceful co-existance of all ethnic roups in the country and address what Nigerians want.”?
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