The federal government disclosed
on Sunday that a week-long ceasefire was declared from March 19 to enable the
insurgents drop off the abducted Dapchi schoolgirls.
Lai Mohammed, minister of
information and culture, disclosed this in Lagos at a media briefing to give
update and clarifications on the release of the schoolgirls in Dapchi, Yobe
state.
The minister said there were no
conspiracy theories as to how the insurgents were able to return the
schoolgirls to Dapchi un-attacked despite troops presence.
“Unknown to many, we have been in
wider cessation-of-hostility talks with the insurgents for some time now,” he
said.
“The talks helped to secure the
release of the police officers’ wives and the University of Maiduguri lecturers
recently. And the talks did not stop thereafter.
“Therefore, we were able to
leverage on the wider talks when the Dapchi girls were abducted.
“As I said earlier, the
insurgents decided to return the girls to where they picked them from as a
goodwill gesture.
“All they demanded was a
ceasefire that will grant them a safe corridor to drop the girls. This is not
new.
“Even in larger war situations,
safe corridors are usually created for humanitarian and other purposes.
“Consequently, a week-long
ceasefire was declared, starting from Monday, March 19. That is why the
insurgents were able to drop the girls.
“This counters the conspiracy
theories being propounded in some quarters concerning why it was so easy for
the insurgents to drop off the girls without being attacked by the military.”
The minister reiterated that the
government neither paid ransom nor swapped any Boko Haram member to secure the
release of the girls.
“This is a fact, irrespective of
how a section of the press has tried to spin the story,” he said.
“The insurgents brought the girls
back to the location of the kidnapping themselves as an apparent gesture of
goodwill.
“This follows relentless efforts
by the Government to find long-lasting solutions to the conflict.”
He recalled that President
Muhammadu Buhari had directed all security agencies to do everything possible
to bring the girls back unharmed.
Mohammed said the president’s
directive dictated the method adopted back-channel talks with international
friends as mediators.
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