Did i hear correct? Resume talks ke! Well that's what we are hearing from the Federal Government as of yesterday. Check details after the cut...
A report from VANGUARD NEWSPAPERS says the group might have agreed to hold talks with the new leadership in Nigeria with the aim of ending the six-year-old insurgency in the country.
One of the sources which had been involved in previous attempts to broker peace between the Federal Government and the terrorists group confirmed to Vanguard last night that there were some level of discussions between the group and the government but that the “government does not want to be seen to be negotiating with the terrorists.”
The source, who works with an international agency with some presence in Nigeria, said: “I can tell you that there is some behind-the-scene informal discussion with certain segments of the Buhari administration, going on in Nigeria.
“But the truth is that the government does not want to be seen to be talking with the group apparently because of the failure of all previous efforts to dialogue with the Boko Haram men in and outside Nigeria under the previous administration.
“The aim of the renewed effort is to resuscitate the discussions from where we ended abruptly under the Jonathan administration and take it forward from there since there is a new government in place in Nigeria.
“The true position is that some of those with contacts with the leadership of the Boko Haram have gone back to assure them that there is a new government in place and that things can be done differently from what it was in the past when they were dribbled over and over again by top government officials who wanted to make quick gains under the guise of negotiating with the militants.”
The source said the militant leaders had been assured that the Buhari government was more open and ready to negotiate with them.
“Indeed, we have begun the peace process from the Boko Haram side and that may signal a new hope for the release of the missing Chibok girls,” the source said.
It will be recalled that the Presidency had hinted last week that it might negotiate with the dreaded Boko Haram leadership in order to end the cycle of violence that has wreaked havoc in Nigeria in the last six years.
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