Chibok Girls: Buhari Considers Amnesty For Boko Haram

 
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, September 16, said he was ready to offer amnesty to Boko Haram fighters in exchange for the missing Chibok girls. 
Buhari spoke on the amnesty offer in an interview with french channel AFP on the last day of his visit to France. This comes as the government is considering ways of rescuing the girls who are yet to be released from Boko Harm captivity.


Buhari said they could offer amnesty if the sect handed over all the Chibok abductees. But girls’ release should come first, he insisted.
“The few (prisoners) we are holding, we are trying to see whether we can negotiate with them for the release of the Chibok girls.
“If the Boko Haram leadership eventually agrees to turn over the Chibok girls to us – the complete number – then we may decide to give them (the prisoners) amnesty.”

Parents of the missing girls

The president also said it was important to verify the genuineness of Boko Haram leaders identity:
“We are trying to establish if they are bona fide, how useful they are in Boko Haram, have they reached a position of leadership where their absence is of relevance to the operation of Boko Haram?”

He expressed confidence that “conventional” attacks by the terrorist group would be over by November.
“The main conventional attacks, where Boko Haram use armoured cars they took from the Nigerian troops, or mounted machine-guns on pick-up vehicles and so on, we believe by the end of the three months, we will see the end of that.

Muhammadu Buhari

“What may not absolutely stop is the occasional bombings by the use of improvised explosive devices.  We do not expect a 100 per cent stoppage of the insurgency.”
It should be recalled that on Tuesday President Buhari disclosed in France that the negotiations were ongoing with Boko Haram leaders regarding the release of the Chibok girls.
He continued that the sect wanted the Nigerian government to release one of its strategic leaders, a condition Buhari rejected.