B’Haram talks to yield ‘concrete, positive result’

The ongoing peace talks between the federal government and Boko Haram will give rise to “concrete and positive” results by the time they are over, Reuben Abati, the special adviser to the president on media and publicity, told BBC on Tuesday.

Eleven days after the federal government announced it had reached a ceasefire deal with Boko Haram, attacks by insurgents have anything but ceased, and worries over the validity of the peace deal have continued growing.

However, leading government officials, including Aminu Wali, the minister of foreign affairs, insist there was indeed a deal, and the recent attacks have been masterminded by dissidents within the group.

But the officials are all avoiding putting a time frame to when dividends of the talks would begin to manifest.

“It is difficult to put a time frame to the negotiations,” Abati said.

He also responded to continuous criticism of the government on its handling of insurgency in the northeast, saying the challenge is a very peculiar one.

“We must realise that what the Nigerian military is facing is an unusual situation,” he said.

“I think that what the Nigerian military deserves and requires at all times is encouragement.”

Boko Haram has released two women who were abducted in Askira Uba, Borno state, one day before the ceasefire announcement. But none of the abducted Chibok girls has been set free yet.