‘I am ready to swap Boko Haram terrorists for Chibok Girls’ – President Buhari

Nigeria: The federal government of Nigeria has revealed that it is ready to swap Boko Haram prisoners with the abducted Chibok girls as long as it was convinced that it was dealing with the authentic leaders of the terrorist group which has custody of the girls.

Speaking during an interview with reporters on Sunday at the ongoing sixth Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (TICAD VI) in Nairobi, Kenya, President Muhammadu Buhari said his government was willing to discuss the release of the Chibok girls who were abducted by Boko Haram terrorist group in April 2014.

While noting that there has been a leadership tussle within the group who pledged allegiance to ISIS, Buhari suggested that if the right leaders of the group were not comfortable with negotiating with the government, they can look for a credible inter international Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) by themselves that they could trust to work with.

“I have made a couple of comments on the Chibok girls and it seems to me that much of it has been politicised'' he said.

‘‘What we said is that the government which I preside over is prepared to talk to bonafide leaders of Boko Haram.

‘‘If they do not want to talk to us directly, let them pick an internationally recognised Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), convince them that they are holding the girls and that they want Nigeria to release a number of Boko Haram leaders in detention, which they are supposed to know.

‘‘If they do it through the ‘modified leadership’ of Boko Haram and they talk with an internationally recognized NGO then Nigeria will be prepared to discuss for their release.”

The President however warned that the Federal Government will not waste its time and resources with “doubtful sources’’ claiming to know the whereabouts of the girls.

‘‘We want those girls out and safe. The faster we can recover them and hand them over to their parents, the better for us.’’

President Buhari stressed that the terrorist group, has been largely decimated by the Nigerian military with the support of from its neighbours Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin.

‘‘Some of the information about the division in Boko Haram is already in the press and I have read in the papers about the conflict in their leadership.

‘‘The person known in Nigeria as their leader, we understand was edged out and the Nigerian members of Boko Haram started turning themselves to the Nigerian military.

‘‘We learnt that in an airstrike by the Nigeria Air Force he was wounded. Indeed their top hierarchy and lower cadre have a problem and we know this because when we came into power, they were holding 14 out of the 774 local governments in Nigeria.

“But now they are not holding any territory and they have split to small groups attacking soft targets.”