The
Federal Government swapped five Boko Haram militants for the 82 Chibok
schoolgirls, an authoritative source told Daily Trust yesterday.
The
girls were released following a complex negotiation that took months to
execute, the source said.
The
outcome should be seen as “a favourable bargain,” considering what obtained in
other climes when it comes to prisoner swap of innocent citizens with suspected
terrorists, he said.
The
source, whose name is protected because of the sensitive nature of the release,
allayed fears that the release of the insurgents would pose a serious
international security breach.
He
said there was no need to panic over the swap of the girls with Boko Haram
commanders because international convention had been respected.
The
source, said the Boko Haram leaders would not pose any threat to national
security considering the level of discussions going on among various
stakeholders on not only securing the release of abducted persons, but finding
lasting solution to the nearly eight-year insurgency.
“One
positive aspect of it is that even in the midst of war, if you are talking,
that is what people like because you will end up having a peace deal, this is
the issue of ‘carrot and stick’ and there is certainty.
“The
good aspect of this government is that despite the war, despite the fact that
the military had subdued this thing, mediation is ongoing and not long after
this, you will begin to hear of rehabilitation and reintegration and other
components of peace building,” he said.
The
most important aspect of mediation was “creating goodwill and positive
communication.
“Less
than a dozen insurgents were released and this is an unprecedented feat because
we got 82 girls and negotiation is ongoing for the release of more very soon,”
he said.
Asked
how the Swiss Government, the Red Cross and the Nigerian government managed to
establish talks with the insurgents, he said, “Is a process that started long
ago and culminated in the victory on Saturday. We built confidence over the
years especially when we succeeded in the first one (21 girls released last
year).
“They
(Boko Haram) were able to identify their own grudges because Shekau had been
saying over the years that they wanted their members that are in prison in
Nigeria to be swapped with the Chibok girls.
“So,
the government agrees, in fact it offered less than a dozen of the prisons and
we were able to convince them (Boko Haram) to release 82 of the Chibok girls.
They gave several names of their members to be released for the exchange but we
ended up taking those that we took there,” he said.
On
how the negotiators felt on coming face to face with the deadly Boko Haram
commanders for the exchange, he said, “I have the firm belief that it is only
when (someone’s time) is due that one would die; and somebody must take the
risk and they did.
“And
secondly, already trust has been built and mediation does not start and end in
one day; this thing started long ago just like what happened in Rwanda that
brought lasting peace, and the peace and reconciliation committee in South
Africa; these are some of the key elements…I have the belief that I would not
die until my appointed time, that is why I went.
“I
can assure that the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration has laid the
foundation for lasting solution to the Boko Haram insurgency by opening the doors
of conversation. This is not new, it is an acceptable norm all over the world,”
he added.
PDP’s
position on Chibok girls inhuman - FG
The
Federal Government has described a statement credited to a faction of the PDP
criticising the process that led to the release of 82 Chibok Girls as
“indecent, inhuman and ill-timed.”
The
Senator Ahmed Makarfi- led PDP on Sunday condemned the swap saying it violated
international best practices which decried negotiating with terrorists.
The
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a statement issued
by his Media Assistant, Segun Adeyemi, condemned the comments by the PDP.
Alhaji
Mohammed said it was insensitive for any individual or organisation to seek to
“douse, on the altar of politics, the universal joy that has greeted the
release of the 82 girls - the highest number so far freed since their
unfortunate abduction under the watch of the PDP over three years ago.”
He
said it was PDP’s “incompetence and cluelessness” that precipitated the Chibok
girls’ crisis in the first instance.
The
minister recalled President Buhari’s pledge that his administration could not
be said to have defeated Boko Haram without rescuing the girls, asked,
‘’If that includes swapping some
Boko Haram elements for the girls, so
what?
“Will
the PDP rather have the girls stay in perpetual captivity, just to prove a
ludicrous point? Didn’t superpower United States engage in negotiations with
the Taliban that led to the exchange of five Taliban fighters for US Army Sgt
Bowe Bergdahl in 2014?
“Didn’t
Israel release 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for one Israeli soldier,
Gilad Shalit, in 2011?” he asked.
He
said many factors came into play when a nation had to decide whether or not to
engage in prisoner/hostage swap, saying, “None of which should defeat the
sanctity attached to human life and pains suffered by loved ones.”
According
to him, ‘’Since the PDP failed - as it did in everything - to rescue even one
of the Chibok girls, the party should hold its peace while this administration
continues to seek the release of all the abducted girls, using every means at
its disposal, in addition to working assiduously to end all Boko Haram
hostilities
0 comments:
Post a Comment