After a secret negotiation, Boko Haram has agreed to release some of the abducted 219 Chibok girls.
The sect has listed 18 of its key members, who it said should be freed from detention in exchange for the girls.
But there was a snag last night because while the government wanted freedom for all the 219 Government Secondary School, Chibok girls, the sect said it would free only 30. The girls have been in captivity for 149 days.
Boko Haram sent the list of its commanders and the 30 girls to be swapped to a minister, who is also a lawyer, an elderstatesman and a key facilitator of peace with the sect, Comrade Shehu Sani, who is also the President of the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria, according to sources.
The list, it was learnt, was sent after secret talks between a government delegation and a Boko Haram commander, who is being detained in Kuje Prison in Abuja. But there was no confirmation of this last night.
According the sources, the delegation, whose membership was kept under wrap, discussed with the commander, who is simply described as Umar.
One of the sources said: “Some top officials met with Umar about two weeks ago in Kuje Prison to discuss issues connected to the fate of the Chibok girls.
“We heard some inmates sharing this information that the sect might swap the girls with Umar and others. But all the details are still secret because Umar keeps to himself a lot.”
But another source said: “The delegation had a fruitful negotiation with Umar, who is one of the highly-rated commanders of Boko Haram. The group assured Umar of a swap and he has been looking forward to it.
“The sect has given a list of 18 of its members to be swapped with the abducted Chibok girls.”
It was, however, gathered that the fresh negotiation has suffered a little setback because Boko Haram has agreed to set free only 30 of the remaining 219 girls in its custody.
The government has offered to release the 18 key Boko Haram leaders/ members only on the condition that all the Chibok girls will be freed.
Some security agents are said to have given “cautious advice” to the government when there was “no full assurance that all the girls will be released”.
“So, technically, the release of 30 girls was unacceptable to the government based on the advice of some security agents,” another source said, adding:
“You can see why Nigerians should stop blaming Boko Haram from continuously keeping these girls in captivity. What is of concern now is to get even these 30 girls out to prove to the whole world that they are alive.”
Sani simply said last night: “No comment.”
Earlier in May, Sani explained why he and some Boko Haram contacts had audience with ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta.
He said the session was meant to open a new channel for dialogue with the sect to rescue the girls.
He said: “The meeting in Abeokuta was aimed at repackaging and salvaging the dialogue option.”
It was not immediately clear if the latest talks had any connection with the repackaging or not.
The Chairman of the Presidential Fact-Finding Committee on the abduction of Chibok girls, Brig-Gen. Ibrahim Sabo, had on July 22 said the incident was real, contrary to misinterpretation in some quarters.
He also said 276 pupils were abducted, but 219 were unaccounted for, as at the time of submitting the report.
He said 57 of the abducted pupils had been reunited with their families after escaping from the sect.
Gen. Sabo, who made the disclosures in an address at the presentation of the committee’s report to the President, said 119 pupils escaped from the school premises before the insurgents took away their classmates.”
SOURCE: The Nation
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Boko Haram agreed to swap 30 girls for 18 sect fighters doesnt make sense to me becuase these guys would rejoin the group and start killing hundreds or thousands of Nigerians, it is not worth it.
ReplyDeleteThis agreement is none sense to me; what of if Boko Haram refuses to release the remaining girls in their custody ?
ReplyDeleteIf they can assure Nigerian that they can stop fighting, stop bombing and stop killing people. In short if anything like BOKOHARAM will be deleted in Nigeria, it is worth giving them back even all their detainees. Let there be peace in our nation for the sake of our children and our beloved country. Let there no more be ethnic and religious crisis. Let us focus on how to meet up with other worlds economically and in development. Let our country be a role model as a big, prosperous and peaceful nation where you can find big number of Muslims and Christians. We have all it takes to grow from north to south if we can live in peaceful coexistence. Let us support education for our offspring so that everybody will be included in carrying the nation where we ought to be.
ReplyDeletePlease politicians try to do your best to our nation without theft and diversion of fund, you should know that good name lasts more than money, you have good house, good cars and reasonable income, you can afford to feed your family and send your children to school as a moderate politician, why then are you stealing up to millions of dollars to another country whereas they are the money you can use to do significant things in your nation which will make your name last even after your death. Or we can have good and computerized financial monitors and audits in all sections of the country to detect theft and corruption. We Nigerians should NOTE that it does not matter when a southerner or a northerner/Christian or Muslim is ruling, if anybody will come in and have the entire Nigeria in the center of his heart, bring peace to Nigeria, stop corruption and theft in Government offices, stop oil theft, put basic infrastructures in place especially steady power supply and good transportation that will link to all the states and try to make every part of the country feel the transformation, that person will be remembered forever.
Boko Haram, please we are begging you to change your mind, we are all brothers and the same kind of people, no matter our religious differences. In foreign land , we cooperate very well, we know ourselves as Nigerians whether from north or south, Muslims or Christians, we cooperate and help each other, we should also replicate that in our country. Where there is always peace and love, there is always prosperity.
Chiedozie.
@Francis, am sure if it was ur sista or daughter with them u wil not say so. Is beta 4 100 criminals 2 escape justice that one inocent to b punished.
ReplyDelete