In the absence of a credible leadership in Boko Haram, the Nigerian government is putting off negotiating with the terrorist sect on the release of the Chibok school girls, President Muhammadu Buhari said yesterday in New Delhi, India.
President Buhari, who was in India for the just concluded Third India-Africa Forum Summit, said that while his administration is keen on securing the release of the girls, who have been in captivity for over a year now, it does not know any credible leadership of the sect it can talk to.
“We want to get them back safe to parents. But we are not sure of a credible leadership that is prepared to talk yet about Chibok girls”, he told the New Delhi Television (NDTV) on the sideline of the summit.
The federal government recently expressed a willingness to negotiate with the Boko Haram sect.
President Buhari said he is “prepared to discuss anything” with the group to rescue the girls, because “we want them back safe. If they are desperate, if they can blow people up in churches and mosques, they can even kill them”.
He also told the television station that the insurgents are beating a retreat on the upswing tempo of the military onslaught against Boko Haram.
“They are on the retreat. If you go to the front, you will find out that they no longer occupy the areas in the North East they once did”, he said.
President Buhari, however, explained that the war in Libya is pushing Islamic State fighters into Nigeria, thereby, swelling the ranks of Boko Haram.
“A lot of trained people have returned to their bases in Nigeria and are finding their way back to strengthen Boko Haram”, he said.
