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President
Muhammadu Buhari
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President Muhammadu
Buhari has said that one of the conditions given by Boko Haram for the release
of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls was for the Nigerian government to release
one of the sect members with expertise in making Improvised Explosives Devices
(IEDs). The
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the President stated this on Tuesday
in Paris while responding to questions from members of the Nigerian community
in France under the auspices of Nigerians in Diaspora Organization (NIDO).
Mr.
Buhari however said his government would not accept such a demand.
“They
wanted us to release one of their leaders who is a strategic person in
developing and making Improvised IEDs that is causing a lot of havoc in the
country by blowing people in Churches, Mosques, market places, motor parks and
other places,” Mr. Buhari said.
He
reiterated the administration’s readiness to negotiate – on certain conditions
– with the terrorists for the release of the schoolgirls abducted since April
2014.
PRMIUM TIMES/NAN report continues:
“The
issue of Chibok girls has occupied our minds and because of the international
attention it drew and the sympathy throughout the country and the world. The
government is (looking into possibility of) negotiating with some of the Boko Haram
leadership,” the president said.
Mr.
Buhari, however, stated that government must first establish genuine members of
the sect so that it would not make the mistake of engaging the wrong persons.
“It
is a very sensitive development in the sense that first we have to establish,
are they genuine leaders of the Boko Haram. That is number one.
“Number
two, what are their terms, the first impression we had was not very
encouraging,’’ the president said.
He
expressed his administration’s worries over the continued stay of the Chibok
schoolgirls in the hands of their captors, saying he was working tirelessly to
get them released.
Mr.
Buhari noted that the unfortunate incident had attracted global attention and
sympathy within and outside Nigeria and government could not fold its alms over
the issue.
“But,
it is very important that if we are going to talk to anybody, we have to know
how much he is worth.
“Let
them bring all the girls and then, we will be prepared to negotiate; I will
allow them to come back to Nigeria or to be absorbed in the community.
“We
have to be very careful; the concern we have for the Chibok girls, one only
imagines if they got a daughter there between 14 and 18 and for more than one
and a half year, a lot of the parents who have died would rather see the graves
of their daughters rather than the condition they imagine they are in.
“This
has drawn a lot of sympathy throughout the world; that is why this government
is working very hard in negotiating and getting the balance of those who are
alive,” he said.
Mr.
Buhari assured the diasporans that his administration was doing everything
possible to improve on the state of the economy through provision of
infrastructure in critical sectors.
The
president’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina had, in July,
confirmed the willingness of government to engage the sect in negotiations if
they were ready.
The
Nigerian Army spokesman, Sani Usman, was quoted in the media as saying that
members of the terror group were surrendering “en masse” and that the regional
offensive was recording fruitful results against the militants.
Some
Nigerians, who fielded questions during the interaction with President Buhari,
requested to know what government was doing to guarantee the plight of the disabled.
Questions
were also asked about the possibility of diaspora Nigerians to vote during
elections.
(NAN)
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