It is no longer news that the federal government has shown a willingness to negotiate with the dread insurgent sect, Boko Haram. An inkling had been given early last month to this effect through the presidential spokesman, Mr Femi Adesina. The president, during his visit to the US equally confirmed this in an interview with Christiane Amanpour on CNN, saying if this would result in the return of the Chibok girls abducted since last year, the federal government would negotiate especially if the leadership of Boko Haram presenting itself is genuine and authentic.
To every parent and majority of Nigerians, this is really good news. Good news in the sense that the trauma of the past year would be brought to a close. As a parent, I can imagine the trauma of these parents, not knowing the fate that has befallen their children, whether still alive or dead.
It would be recalled that a similar negotiation was embarked upon by the immediate past administration of Goodluck Jonathan in 2014, nothing came out of it. The Chadian President, Idris Derby who was supposed to have facilitated the botched negotiation later came to condemn the move. He said he had warned the former president against the move but his warning was not heeded as the negotiation was a political move by Jonathan.
“I told President Goodluck not to open negotiations with terrorists … but it was a political choice,” President Derby said while speaking with French magazine, Le Point, in an interview republished by AFP news agency.
The government explained after the botched negotiation that the failure occurred because it was discussing with another faction of the sect. This changed when the Jonathan government again alleged sabotage. Abubakar Shekau, leader of Boko Haram was to later come out to deride the federal government over the failed attempt at negotiation.
Several things were wrong with the Jonathan government’s move at negotiation chief of which was that it was borne out of desperation. The General election was approaching and the popularity of the administration was at its nadir on account of the activities of the insurgent and the abduction of the Chibok girls which the administration had not been able to find solution to. It thus needed an image-shoring move which the negotiation, if successful, would have provided.
That was then. Another move is on to negotiate with the sect. Would this be the real thing or another effort in futility? One of the significant thing said by the Chadian president concerning the failed negotiation was that the sect was trying to buy time to regroup. With benefit of hindsight, that was probably what happened. The sect became more ferocious thereafter considering that the government then had told the army to observe a ceasefire. How genuine then is this current move? Is the sect truly desirous of peace or another attempt to buy time to regroup and re-arm? It is obvious that the sect had been dealt a mortal blow towards the later party of the Jonathan administration, a trend which has continued. Most of its strongholds have been breached? We were told that the dreaded Sambisa forest was also invaded while most of the prisoners were set free.
The current situation thus makes it imperative for the federal government to gather enough intelligence to ascertain whether this negotiation is truly genuine. Also, who are the proponents of the latest move? Are they the genuine article, can they be trusted? Another question that should be answered is why is the sect interested in a peace negotiation at this time? What has changed? Is it that they realized that their reign of terror is coming to an end or they have grown tired of the bloodletting? Or is it that western education is no longer ‘haram’?
A major reason given by President Buhari for negotiating with the sect is the return of the Chibok girls. How feasible is that? Where are the girls today? Shekau had boasted that he had married some and sold some of the girls off, this sounds believable because with all the strides made by the army in freeing the sect’s prisoners, we have not seen any of the girls. The government and security agencies should go through all the statements and videos released by the sect on the girls as this would give them enough information and also arm the federal government negotiators with enough intelligence and information that would help in the course of negotiation.
A few of the Chibok girls should be presented as readiness and genuiness of the sect to negotiate and to indicate that the girls are still and truly available.
Notwithstanding, the government would definitely not be the loser if the negotiation fails. In the words of Senior Special Assistant, Shehu Garba, “If the President gets the right partners in doing a deal, he will consider a peaceful resolution. He has said that unambiguously in the course of the visit to the U.S. If that doesn’t work out, the President has the will and willingness to crush terror using the army.”
SUN
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