President Buhari has reiterated the preparedness of the Federal
Government to discuss the release of the Chibok girls kidnapped by Boko
Haram terror group since 2014. In an interview with journalists in
Nairobi, Kenya at the weekend, President Buhari said the Nigerian
government is ready to dialogue with bonafide leaders of the terror
group who know the whereabouts of the girls.
"I have made a couple of comments on the Chibok girls and it seems to me
that much of it has been politicised. What we said is that the
government which I preside over is prepared to talk to bonafide leaders
of Boko Haram.
If they
do not want to talk to us directly, let them pick an internationally
recognised Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), convince them that they
are holding the girls and that they want Nigeria to release a number of
Boko Haram leaders in detention, which they are supposed to know. If
they do it through the ‘modified leadership’ of Boko Haram and they talk
with an internationally recognised NGO then Nigeria will be prepared to
discuss for their release" he said.
President Buhari, who spoke to the media on the margins of the sixth
Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI), warned
that the Federal Government will not waste time and resources with
``doubtful sources’’ claiming to know the whereabouts of the girls.
"We want those girls out and safe. The faster we can recover them and hand them over to their parents, the better for us."
He maintained that the terror group, which pledged allegiance to ISIS,
has been largely decimated by the gallant Nigerian military with the
support of immediate neighbours from Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin.
"Some of the information about the division in Boko Haram is already in
the press and I have read in the papers about the conflict in their
leadership. The person known in Nigeria as their leader, we understand
was edged out and the Nigerian members of Boko Haram started turning
themselves to the Nigerian military. We learnt that in an air strike by
the Nigeria Air Force he was wounded. Indeed their top hierarchy and
lower cadre have a problem and we know this because when we came into
power, they were holding 14 out of the 774 local governments in Nigeria.
But now they are not holding any territory and they have split to small
groups attacking soft targets"he said
On the militancy in the Niger Delta region, President Buhari said the
Federal Government is also open to dialogue to resolve all contending
issues in the area.
"We do not believe that they (the militants) have announced ceasefire.
We are trying to understand them more. Who are their leaders and which
areas do they operate and other relevant issues," he said.
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