Nigerian ex-governor apologises to Islamists over abuse

KANO, Nigeria (AFP) - A former governor of the northern Nigerian state of Borno on Wednesday sent an apology to Boko Haram over his role in the brutal military crackdown on the radical Islamist sect.

"I wish to publicly tender my apology to the Jama'atu Ahliss-Sunnah lidda'awati wal jihad...I might have offended in the course of discharging my duties as the executive governor of Borno State," Ali Modu Sheriff said in an advertorial published in some local newspapers.

Sheriff, who was governor between 2003 and 2011, has been accused of complicity in the military crackdown on the sect, popularly known as Boko Haram, during its armed uprising in 2009.

"It is human to err but divine to forgive," the ex-governor said in the apology, the third to the sect in the past week by senior politicians from the north.

Last week, ex-governor of neighbouring Gombe State Danjuma Goje, now a senator, and Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda, in separate statements apologised to Boko Haram for any role they might have played in rights violations against its members during the uprising.

The Boko haram sect, which prefers to go by the name Jama'atu Ahlissunnah lidda;'awati wal Jihad, is based in Borno State but has also been active in nearby Bauchi and Gombe states.

The sect has demanded a public apology as part of condition for a truce with the government.

Boko Haram launched a short-lived armed rebellion in 2009 in a doomed bid to establish an Islamic state in parts of the north.

The uprising was crushed by the military, leaving hundreds, mostly sect members, dead and the sect's mosque and headquarters in ruins.

Boko Haram has been blamed for a wave of gun and bomb attacks, targetting military and police personnel, community and religious leaders as well as politicians in the past year.