'BOKO HARAM ASKED FOR THE RELEASE OF THEIR BOMB EXPERT IN EXCHANGE FOR CHIBOK GIRLS'- Presidency.

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that his
administration is worried by the continued stay of the
Chibok schoolgirls in the hands of their captors and is
working tirelessly to get them released.
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).
President 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.
He said that the Federal Government was ready to
negotiate with their captors with a view to effecting
their release.
“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.’’
President 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.’’
He revealed that one of the conditions given by the
group was to release one of its members who had been
strategic in developing Improvised Explosives Devices
(IEDs), “a demand that government will not accept”.
“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.
“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 getting very hard
in negotiating and getting the balance of those who are
alive.”
President 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, Mr Femi Adesina had, in July, confirmed the
willingness of government to engage the sect if they
were ready.
The Nigerian Army spokesman, Col. Sani Usman, was
quoted in the media as saying that members of the
terror group, Boko Haram, 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 election.(NAN)