The federal government has hinted that it may go ahead to release Boko Haram prisoners in exchange for the kidnapped Chibok girls which have been held by their captors since 2014. This the President hinted on the side-lines of the 6th Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Nairobi, Kenya
In response to this, protesters took to the streets of Abuja on Thursday, 1st of September to challenge the decision of the government.
The protesters under the Coalition Against Terrorism and Extremism said that any attempts to swap the prisoners for the Chibok girls will undermine the strength of the nation as the terrorists’ group request was aimed that holding the nation to ransom through ‘’unreasonable’’ demands that would threaten the peace of the nation in the future.
However, in a statement signed by leaders of the Bring Back Our Girls Movement, they expressed utter dissatisfaction in the fact that the government was offering the terrorist group an opportunity to select an intermediary NGO of their choice if they wished, to mediate talks regarding the release of the girls.
‘’We fail to understand why our federal government is giving so much to determine the process and first mover actions to the terrorist’’, the statement read.
Many countries with superior capabilities have indicated willingness to help our government gather security and intelligence assests on this and other related North-East challenges. We were therefore extremely shocked to read Mr President state that, some of the information about the division in Boko Haram is already in the press and I have read it in the papers about the conflict in their leadership’’, the statement continued.
They insist that rather than heeding to the request of the terrorist group and granting them unnecessary powers, the federal government should seize the opportunity and initiative to rescue the abducted girls.
Along the same lines, UK based counter-terror expert Ricahrd Barret has warned the federal government to thread with caution in any proposed swaps with the Boko Haram sect.
He warned that the government had to be certain it was not releasing prisoners that were going to revive the activities of the deadly group which the military and government were still warring to end now that they were at their supposed most vulnerable after the purported injury of their leader.
The military through the theatre commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Major General Lucky Irabor has expressed that the move by the government to swap the abducted girls for Boko Haram prisoners should not be seen as a sign of failure as both the military and the government were strongly committed to bringing the insurgents to an end and rescuing the girls.
He said, “Operative objective of the military in its counter-insurgency operations derives from the President’s statement that the war against insurgency wouldn’t be said to have been won without the rescue of the Chibok girls.’’
The 218 Chibok girls were captured in 2014 from their school dormitory since 2014. Almost two years down the line, all the girls are yet to be rescued and returned to their homes. There are strong concerns of the psychological state of the girls who may have been married off, abused or traumatised deeply by the ordeal.
Kosiso Ugwuede
