Boko Haram: Setback for peace moves as man is shot dead for meeting Obasanjo - Efforts to kick-start peace talks between the Nigerian government and the violent Islamic sect Boko Haram have suffered a setback, as the brother in-law of the sect's founder was shot dead on Saturday, two days after meeting former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The local media reported Sunday that Babakura Fugu, brother in-law of the slain Boko Haram leader Mohammed Yusuf, was killed in his Railway Quarters residence in Maiduguri, capital of northern Borno state which is the base of the sect.

It was in the same residence that he had met Obasanjo Thursday, in what is generally believed to be an exploratory meeting for peace talks to end the spate of deadly bombings by Boko Haram.

Fugu, 48, was also the eldest son of Alhaji Baba Fugu, Yusuf's father in-law who was also a victim of extra-judicial killing in 2009.

Fugu had reportedly told Obasanjo that he was delighted at his visit, especially since it was the highest profile visit to the family since the killing of their patriarch.

But the local media Sunday quoted sources close to Boko Haram as saying Fugu should not have spoken on behalf of the sect, even though he was related to their late leader.

Meanwhile, Obasanjo has denied that his visit to Maiduguri was aimed at exploring the possibility of peace talks with Boko Haram.

In a published interview on Sunday, he also said he was not an emissary of the federal government.

“No, far from it, I did not go there for negotiation; my visit was a learning process.

“I have heard about the activities of Boko Haram but no one seems to know much about the group or its grievances. Everybody is just talking about Boko Haram. I wanted to learn and know what is actually going on so that we can know what we can do about it,' the former President was quoted as saying.

He however did not foreclose the possibility that he would make some recommendations to the federal government on what he had been able to learn from the Maiduguri trip.

In a related development, Nigeria's sole Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka has lambasted Obasanjo for embarking on the trip.

In a statement issued here, Soyinka was particularly irked that Obasanjo chose to travel to Maiduguri to meet with Boko Haram elements on the same day the victims of the sect's bombing at the UN House in the capital city of Abuja were being remembered in a memorial service.

“My chagrin cannot be measured when I discovered on arrival that at the very moment...when this
nation bowed her head in sorrow and contrition before the whole world, in an attempt to come to terms with her own causative deficiencies in whatever area...a former head of state of this very nation appropriated that moment of a collective empathy with victims to pay a visit to the home of one who, albeit dead, was the acknowledged head of the murder organisation, Boko Haram, an organisation that blithely accepted, as usual, responsibility for this unconscionable act, one among equally heinous and yet ongoing atrocities,' he said.

Soyinka added: “What has happened here is a pitiable spectacle that covers a nation in shame – and let there be no mistake, it is anything but passive. It is an act of aggression, a slap in the face of the bereaved and wounded, including the permanently disfigured.

“It desecrates the memory of the fallen and casts doubts on any claim to humanism and capacity for compassion of the Nigerian people. It has turned the commemoration event into a charade, a ceremonial gathering, an empty husk without the germ of authentic fellow feeling.'

Pana 19/09/2011