Back from Sambisa search, Mohammed says negotiations to free Chibok girls ongoing

After leading the search for the missing Chibok girls in Sambisa Forest, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has disclosed that there are ongoing negotiations to free other Chibok girls who are still in captivity.

Mohammed stated this at the Air Force Base in Yola just as his group concluded a day and night round of Sambisa Forest search for the remaining missing Chibok Secondary School girls who were adopted by the terrorist Boko Haram group over 1000 days ago.

According to him, the feat recorded by the military in the insurgency fight is assisting the negotiation especially in employing the carrot and stick approach to end the activities of the terrorists group.

He said, “The negotiations are still on, but unfortunately unlike the search operations, we cannot take you along to the negotiation table. I want to assure you that these negotiations are going on but they are very complicated and delicate and shift from time to time.’’

Mohammed applauded the military for rooting out the terrorists group from their strong base, adding that the capture of Camp Zero in Sambisa, the headquarters and stronghold of the sect was a huge achievement towards defeating the terrorists completely.

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“The capture is a big victory for the military. “Camp Zero might occupy probably one kilometre out of 60,000 kilometres expanse of Sambisa, but it is so crucial to us in this war. It is like imagining that there is a war and the Villa is captured. That is the essence of camp zero.

“It is not the extent of physical expanse but that we struck at the very heart of insurgency and it does not mean the end of the campaign in Sambisa forest, ’Mohammed said.

Among the group who went in search of the girls were the Information Minister, the Minister of Defence, Brig-Gen. Mansur Dan-Alli (rtd); the convener of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group, Mrs Obiageli Ezekwesili and selected local and foreign journalists.

276 Chibok schoolgirls were abducted by Boko Haram militants on April 14, 2014, 57 of them escaped immediately in 2014, and one was found later, 21 were released in October and another one found recently by the Army leaving 196 still in captivity.

 

 

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