Boko Haram Gives FG List Of Its Commanders To Be Released

As one of the prerequisites for the release of the abducted school girls in Chibok, Borno State, the Islamist sect, Boko Haram has reportedly submitted ‘a specific list’ of detained commanders the sect would want swapped for the Chibok girls to the Federal Government.
It would be recalled that the school girls were kidnapped inside the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State on 14 April, 2014 by Boko Haram insurgents.The terrorists finally agreed to release the abducted girls two weeks ago after it representative, Danladi Ahmadu reached a cease fire agreement with the Nigerian government in Chad.
According to reports, part of the cease fire agreement was that the FG would release Boko Haram commanders in its prisons in an exchange for the Chibok girls.

Abubakar Shekau

However, Punch reports that indications emerged on Monday, 27 October, 2014, that the representatives of the Boko Haram involved in the on-going negotiation have submitted ‘a specific list’ of detained commanders the sect would want swapped for the Chibok girls to the Federal Government team.
READ ALSO: Boko Haram Victims Feed On Grass And Insects
It was gathered from a security source that the security agencies had started a process of verifying the status of those in the list.

The source informed that the verification is meant to ascertain the state of health of the Boko Haram commanders.
The source said that the discussions going on at the Chadian Capital had witnessed “tremendous progress.”

Abducted Chibok schoolgirls

It was further stated that other meetings were held in the spirit of the on-going peace deal with the insurgents at three locations.
Meetings were said to have taken place at a location in Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Chad, which the source described as the neutral and safe ground for both parties.
READ ALSO: Boko Haram Kidnaps 40 Women
The source dismissed insinuations that the insurgents might decide not to continue with the negotiation because of reported confrontations back home.
“What I can say is that the meetings are on-going. Over the weekend, meetings held at Njdamena, (Chad), Nigeria and Saudi Arabia so it would not be right to assume that because nobody is talking the meetings have been suspended.
“We have made a big progress, a very big progress on the issue of the on-going negotiations. But these are not the right time to discuss details,” the source said.
It was gathered that the security agencies had decided not to talk on the cease fire deal until the objectives for the meeting were achieved.
It was learnt that the security leadership was of the view that a detailed reportage of the deliberation was harming the talks and should be avoided at this stage of the deliberation.
When asked about the number of insurgents on the Boko Haram list and the most likely time to expect the release of the Chibok girls, the security source would not give details.
“The media should show some restraint in reporting this matter; this thing is about the country; people should not report this negotiation with sensationalism. You know how sensitive it is.
“Another thing you must note is that many of the reports about this negotiation are false; they are not true.”
It would be recalled that some security experts, Pastor Ladi Thompson and Mr Ona Ekhomu had recently faulted the Federal Government’s ceasefire deal with the Boko Haram group.
According to the experts, what Nigeria is facing is not insurgency but terrorism hence advised the Nigerian government to treat the issue as terrorism and not as insurgency.