President Muhammadu Buhari has reiterated the preparedness of the Federal
\nGovernment to discuss the release of the Chibok girls kidnapped by Boko
\nHaram terror group since 2014,<\/p>\n
In an interview with journalists in Nairobi, Kenya at the weekend,
\nPresident Buhari said the Nigerian government is ready to dialogue with
\nbonafide leaders of the terror group who know the whereabouts of the
\ngirls.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I have made a couple of comments on the Chibok girls and it seems to me
\nthat much of it has been politicised.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018What we said is that the government which I preside over is prepared to
\ntalk to bonafide leaders of Boko Haram.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018If they do not want to talk to us directly, let them pick an
\ninternationally recognised Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), convince
\nthem that they are holding the girls and that they want Nigeria to release
\na number of Boko Haram leaders in detention, which they are supposed to
\nknow.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018If they do it through the \u2018modified leadership\u2019 of Boko Haram and they
\ntalk with an internationally recognised NGO then Nigeria will be prepared
\nto discuss for their release,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
President Buhari, who spoke to the media on the margins of the sixth Tokyo
\nInternational Conference on African Development (TICAD VI), warned that
\nthe Federal Government will not waste time and resources with “doubtful
\nsources\u2019\u2019 claiming to know the whereabouts of the girls.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018We want those girls out and safe. The faster we can recover them and
\nhand them over to their parents, the better for us.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The President maintained that the terror group, which pledged allegiance
\nto ISIS, has been largely decimated by the gallant Nigerian military with
\nthe support of immediate neighbours from Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Some of the information about the division in Boko Haram is already in
\nthe press and I have read in the papers about the conflict in their
\nleadership.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018The person known in Nigeria as their leader, we understand was edged out
\nand the Nigerian members of Boko Haram started turning themselves to the
\nNigerian military.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018We learnt that in an air strike by the Nigeria Air Force he was wounded.
\nIndeed their top hierarchy and lower cadre have a problem and we know this
\nbecause when we came into power, they were holding 14 out of the 774 local
\ngovernments in Nigeria. But now they are not holding any territory and
\nthey have split to small groups attacking soft targets.<\/p>\n
On the militancy in the Niger Delta region, the President said the Federal
\nGovernment is also open to dialogue to resolve all contending issues in
\nthe area.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018We do not believe that they (the militants) have announced ceasefire. We
\nare trying to understand them more. Who are their leaders and which areas
\ndo they operate and other relevant\u00a0 issues,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Muhammadu 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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n