President Goodluck Jonathan met traditional rulers and military chiefs to consider the terms.

Barely 24 hours after Nigeria’s President, Goodluck Jonathan, met with traditional rulers from the north on the possibility of granting amnesty to members of the Boko Haram militant group, another meeting with service and security chiefs was held on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 at the Aso Rock Presidential Palace in the capital, Abuja, Thisday newspaper reported.

The meeting was to consider the report of the Amnesty Security Committee set up two weeks ago by the Head of State. The creation of the committee followed pleas by northern leaders on the precarious security situation in the region. It was mandated to consider the feasibility of granting pardon to Boko Haram militants, among other terms of reference. The meeting with the security chiefs, it was gathered, was also meant to look at the position paper presented on Monday night to President Jonathan by the Northern Traditional Rulers Council led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III.

Attending the meeting were the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ibrahim Ola Saïd, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, his Naval counterpart, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba, that of Air Force, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, among others. The outcome of the meeting that was also attended by Vice President, Namadi Sambo, was however not made public, Vanguard newspaper said.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, on Tuesday challenged northern leaders to emulate their Niger Delta colleagues whom he said displayed uncommon courage in the heydays of militant agitation in the region by visiting various camps to persuade former militants to drop their arms and embrace peace, The Guardian newspaper reported.