Indications have emerged that the Federal Government is in a dilemma over a deal that will involve the exchange of the abducted girls of the Government Secondary School, Chibok, for detained Boko Haram members.
A security source said on Friday that the President was caught between the quest to use the swap option to secure the safe release of the girls and to retain the support of the Western countries supporting Nigeria in the campaign against terrorism.
The source said the President would have adopted the swap agreement to get the girls released, but for the stiff opposition to the deal by the United States and other Western powers.
It was learnt that the Western powers insisted that it was not proper to swap the girls for terrorists.
The source said the countries whose equipment were already on the ground in Nigeria and were involved in the search for the abducted girls threatened to pull out of the united action against the insurgents.
The source said the President and his security managers came under pressure at the nick of time to call off the deal because of the strong desire to keep the support of the Western countries.
It was further gathered that the President and his team also did not want to abandon the option of negotiation because of the grave implication of possible public outcry against the government if the girls were killed.
The source stated that the Federal Government was more disposed to adopting the option of negotiation which had the support of the Ulamas and others considered close to the leadership of the Boko Haram sect.
It was further stated that the negotiator, who brokered the deal between the insurgents and the Federal Government, Ahmad Salkida (a Nigerian journalist), was still in the country because of the possibility of resumed negotiation with the sect.
The source said, "It is true that there was serious pressure. it is clear the US, the UK, and others did not want us to swap or negotiate. But can we succeed without negotiation?
"The Ulamas are saying we should negotiate; An activist, Shehu Sani, advised that we should negotiate, even former President Olusegun Obasanjo supports negotiation.
"The government is in a dilemma in this matter, whether to use negotiation to rescue the girls or to satisfy the Western powers.
"Also, the government does not want the foreign troops to pull out their weapons. There was excessive pressure from these countries."
Indications of possibility of negotiation with the insurgents became clearer during the week when the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, told journalists that the military had located where the girls were being kept.
Badeh, however, said that the military would not use force to ensure the girls' release to prevent the insurgents from killing them.
When asked whether the government was still pursuing the swap deal, the Chairman of the National Information Centre, Mr. Mike Omeri, said, "The President has stated the stand of the government (referring to Jonathan's Democracy Day address). Who is talking about swapping? The President has said we are ready for negotiation and that is where we stand."
Omeri, however, did not explain the nature of the negotiation.
The presidential spokesperson, Reuben Abati, had denied knowledge of the swap deal.
"I am not aware of an attempted rescue plan taking place last week,'' a British newspaper, The Mail, quoted him as saying.
Journalists contacted the spokesperson for the British High Commission in Abuja, Robert Fitzpatrick, to react to the report that UK was one of the countries that pressurised the Federal Government to drop the swap deal.
Fitzpatrick, stated, "Abductions are complex and the official response cannot be played out in public. This often hands the advantage to the abductors, meaning speculation can be dangerous."
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