Negotiate With Boko Haram Or Fight, Sanni Tells FG
Kusoro Jeremiah
Shehu Sanni, former negotiator between Boko Haram and government, has urged Nigerian government to negotiate with Boko Haram to secure the release of more than 200 girls held by the terror group.
Sani who spoke to CNN said the Federal Government may have to embrace the unpalatable option of a prisoner swap if it wants the girls back, adding that if the FG was not ready to negotiate, then it must brace up and fight.
“There are two ways to which you can get these girls free,” Sani told CNN’s “Connect the World”.
“The first is to use force, and the second is through dialogue.
The use of force is not an option for now in the sense that nobody knows where these girls were kept.
“And even if you know, these girls have been embedded in with the insurgents who are heavily armed and any attempt to rescue them will be putting their lives in further danger,” Sani said.
President Goodluck Jonathan has ruled out the option of negotiation since the terror group gave the option in a video released last week.
Rescue efforts have continued, but no real breakthrough have been recorded by security operatives in locating the camp of the dreaded Islamist sect group or where they are keeping the girls.
A summit on the security situation in Nigeria has held in France, with Nigeria and its neighbours at the summit declaring war on Boko Haram, raising doubts the government would consider negotiating with the terror group.
