Government officials have met with the leaders of Boko Haram sect for talks on freedom for the abducted Chibok girls, President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said in France.
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The military noted that “a dozen kidnapped women and children” were left at the camps also, as Boko Haram terrorists lose the ability to feed and shelter their captives. “It will also continue to receive surrendering suspects and assures innocent ones among them that surrender is the only option open to them”.
“The government is (looking into possibility of) negotiating with some of the Boko Haram leadership”, the president said. An estimated 20,000 people have been killed in the 6-year-old uprising and some 2.1 million driven from their homes, some across borders.
Both sides of the conflict have reported successes since the 8,700 soldiers were deployed, according to news reports.
There is fear that they have been killed in suicide bombings, as Boko Haram have frequently used girls for such attacks in Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger.
At least a dozen kidnapped women and children have been freed from captivity in Nigeria.
Fifty-seven escaped but nothing has been heard of the 219 others since May past year, when about 100 of them appeared in a Boko Haram video, dressed in Muslim attire and reciting the Koran.
Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to the ISIS terrorist group, and is committed to establishing strict sharia law across Nigeria.
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“This brigade has rescued and de-radicalised over 200 Boko Haram insurgents from November 2014 to date”, he said. Abubakar cited one instance of a suicide bomber being arrested at a park in northern Nigeria before his attack, and he told citizens to keep alert in public places such as markets and places of worship.
