THE Federal Government at the weekend gave reasons President Muhammadu Buhari was being careful over the negotiation of the release of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls, saying he doesn’t want to be swindled like they did former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, who was a guest on Radio Continental, 102.3 FM, said the negotiators engaged by the previous administration, made it a commercial venture running into millions of Naira only for the government to discover it had been swindled.
The Jonathan administration had begun moves to negotiate with the Boko Haram over the release of more than 200 girls abducted by the terrorists from their school dormitories in Chibok, Borno State in April 2014.
The Voice of Ameri- ca (VOA) has reported that the talks were also aimed at securing out a cease-fire deal.
Jonathan’s former Principal Secretary, Hassan Tukur, was allegedly involved in the negotiation six months after the girls’ abduction with one Danladi Ahmadu, who claimed to be the secretary-general of
Boko Haram, held in Saudi Arabia, aided by top Chadian and Cameroonian officials.
According to Adesina, the President has insisted that the genuineness of the leadership of Boko Haram must be determined before any negotiation takes place.
“We need to know a little bit of what happened behind the scenes, between the last government and some people masquerading as the leadership of Boko Haram who wanted to get the Chibok girls released. They actually turned it into a franchise, it became a commercial thing and they got money, possibly in millions of dollars, only for government to discover it had been swindled.
They kept saying they could get the girls released, they could interface with Boko Haram and they went smiling to the bank with all that money, and nothing happened. So you should understand why this government is being careful and the President has said the genuineness of the leadership of Boko Haram must be determined before any negotiation takes place,” he said.
He also defended Buhari on his stance over the bail granted former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd) and IPOB boss, Nnamdi Kanu, saying Buhari was only saying that, if there are no fresh charges against the men, they would be free to go.
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