Boko Haram Wants Chibok Girls Exchanged With Detained Commanders

Tuesday, 28 October 2014

Boko Haram Wants Chibok Girls Exchanged With Detained Commanders

Boko Haram has reportedly submitted ‘a specific list’ of detained commanders the sect would want swapped for the Chibok girls to the Federal Government.

Part of the cease fire agreement was that the Federal Government would release Boko Haram commanders in its prisons in an exchange for the Chibok girls.

However, Punch reports that indications emerged yesterday, 27 October, 2014, that the representatives of the Boko Haram involved in the on-going negotiation have submitted ‘a specific list’ of detained commanders the sect would want swapped for the Chibok girls to the Federal Government team.

According to report from a security source, the Nigeria security agencies had started a process of verifying the status of those in the list.

The source disclosed that the verification is meant to ascertain the state of health of the Boko Haram commanders.

The source further stated that the discussions going on at the Chadian Capital had witnessed “tremendous progress.” That other meeting were held in the spirit of the on-going peace deal with the insurgents at three locations (Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Chad) which the source described as the neutral and safe ground for both parties.

The source dismissed insinuations that the insurgents might decide not to continue with the negotiation because of reported confrontations back home.

“What I can say is that the meetings are on-going. Over the weekend, meetings held at Njdamena, (Chad), Nigeria and Saudi Arabia so it would not be right to assume that because nobody is talking the meetings have been suspended.

“We have made a big progress, a very big progress on the issue of the on-going negotiations. But these are not the right time to discuss details,” the source said.

It was gathered that the security agencies had decided not to talk on the cease fire deal until the objectives for the meeting were achieved.

It was learnt that the security leadership was of the view that a detailed reportage of the deliberation was harming the talks and should be avoided at this stage of the deliberation.

When asked about the number of insurgents on the Boko Haram list and the most likely time to expect the release of the Chibok girls, the security source would not give details.

“The media should show some restraint in reporting this matter; this thing is about the country; people should not report this negotiation with sensationalism. You know how sensitive it is.

“Another thing you must note is that many of the reports about this negotiation are false; they are not true.”