REVEALED: Negotiator involved in bid to free abducted schoolgirls

A hostage negotiator has moved to broker a deal between the government and Boko Haram for the safe release of the more than 200 girls abducted by insurgents from their hostel in Chibok, Borno State.


A United Kingdom -based television station Channels 4 News which disclosed this on Tuesday did not say if the negotiator is acting on his own or on behalf of the federal or Borno State Government.

Although the station quoted him as saying that the girls’ release was “within reach,” he also warned that their fate rested on a knife-edge because of the fear by the insurgents that the military might try to forcibly free them.

“The girls, we believe, are alive but they have been moved from the location to which they were originally taken,” he said.

“It would not be hard to engineer a deal. It looks like they want to release them. They want a way out, “added the intermediary, whom Channel 4 News credited with having a long experience of dealing directly with Boko Haram in previous hostage crises.

The negotiator, who wanted to remain anonymous for reasons of personal security, said the group was demanding a ransom but added, “we are hoping they will soften their stance.”

The kidnappers had warned, however, that attempts by the military to use might to secure the girls’ freedom “may result in the death” of many of them.

He stated that some members of the sect group were arguing over what to do with the girls, who were forcibly married off with a bride price of just N2,000 after they had been converted to Islam.

The negotiator stated that “the danger now is that the military will get involved and that can only end badly.”

“They have a problem. They have over 200 captives and moving them around cannot remain hidden. There is good, reliable, local knowledge as to their location. The military knows where they are,” he stated.

He added that the hostage-takers had been asked for a list of the girls’ names as proof-of-life.

There were reports on Tuesday that the insurgents had taken the girls to Chad and Cameroon.

The headteacher of the government secondary, Mrs Asabe Kwambura, had said on Tuesday that 10 more girls had been “recovered.”

“For now, the total number of girls we have recovered is 53 while many others are still missing,” Kwambura said.

When one of our correspondents contacted the Director of Defence Information, Maj.Gen .Chris Olukolade, for his comment on the issue, he referred him to the Presidency and the Federal Ministry of Information.

He said, “Please you can direct your inquiries to the Presidency or the Ministry of Information.”

But efforts to get reactions of the Federal and Borno State governments on the engagement of the negotiator did not succeed.

The Minister of Special Duties and Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North, Alhaji Taminu Turaki, did not pick calls to his mobile phone neither did he respond to an SMS sent to him.

Attempt to speak to the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, proved abortive as calls to his mobile phone and that of his media aide were not picked.

Also, calls to the Special Adviser to the Borno State Governor on Media, Mr. Issa Gusau, did not go through.


source:nigerian eye