THE LETTER FROM BOKOHARAM LEADER ON CEASE-FIRE. A MUST READ

“I am appealing and calling on all our members through this medium to lay down their arms henceforth, till further notice,” Abdulazeez stated.
On the wanton killings, especially the slaughtering of eight people in Gajigana town of Magumeri Local Council of Borno State on Sunday and burning of public buildings, he disassociated Boko Haram from the acts, insisting that the atrocities were committed by criminals hiding under the guise of Boko Haram.
Abdulazeez’s comments read in part: “I am Sheikh Muhammed Abdulazeez Ibn Idris, the second Commander in-charge of Southern and Northern Borno after Imam Abubakar Shekau of Jamaatul Ahjlil Sunna lidawati wal Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram.
We the members of Jamaatul ahlil sunna lidawati wal jihad otherwise known as Boko Haram recently had a meeting and dialogue with the government of Borno State where we resolved that giving the prevailing situation, there is the need for us to cease fire.
We, on our own, in the top hierarchy of our movement under the leadership of Imam Abubakar Shekau, as well as some of our notable followers agreed that our brethren in Islam, both women and children are suffering unnecessarily; hence we resolved
that we should bring this crisis to an end.
“We therefore call on all those that identify themselves with us and our cause, to from today lay down their arms. Let every member who hears this announcement relay it to the next member who hasn’t heard.
“We have met with the Borno State Government on two occasions and the fallout of the meeting is to cease-fire.
Presently, we are going to comply with the cease-fire order and by the time we are done with that, then government security agencies can go ahead to arrest whoever they find carrying arms or killing under our names.
We are very much aware of the fact that some criminals have infiltrated our movement and continued attacking and killing people using our names.
“We have also told the government to try to live up to our demands that our members in detention should be released.
We hope the government will not betray us this time around because we all know that it was because of the continued detention of our members that this crisis continued for this long. And if government fails to do as it has promised, then this conflict will never have an end.
“Of course there is a faction within us, but the larger faction of our movement is the one in support of this cease-fire moves. Moreover, once top members of our group including Imam Abubakar Shekau are in support of the need for ceasing fire, other smaller factions can be dealt with easily.
This message, by the Grace of Allah, comes directly from the office of Imam Abubakar Shekau, the supreme leader of Jamaatul ahlil Sunna lidawati wal Jihad.”
The Boko Haram Commander, however, insisted that government should immediately release all their members from custody unconditionally, re-build their places of worship and compensate them among other demands.
Sheikh Abdulazeez said that, the sect observed that during the lingering insurgency, a lot of Muslim women and children had suffered untold hardship, adding that, they also decided to lay down their arms for peace to reign in Borno and the country at large.