Boko Haram wants prisoner swap to return girls, says Sani

Kaduna-based human rights activist, Mallam Shehu Sani, has told the Daily Telegraph of London that Boko Haram could be seeking a prisoner swap deal to return the 276 school girls it seized in Chibok, Borno State.

Under such a deal, the government will release detained Boko Haram militants and the group will in turn free the girls, Sani suggested.

He, however, did not claim to be speaking on behalf of the group or that he had been mandated to push that position.

In the past, Sani attempted to broker peace talks between government officials and Boko Haram, although he pulled out after complaining about “lack of seriousness” on the part of government.

He is believed to command some respect about the militants.

Sani said he could detect a conciliatory move from Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in his latest video in which he threatened so sell the girls in as slaves.

He said Shekau’s threat to sell the girls as “slaves” was proof that he planned to use them as “bargaining chips” rather than kill them.

“If you look at the fact that these girls have already been in captivity for some three weeks, then it is possible to detect a conciliatory tone in this statement from Shekau – he is not saying he is going to kill the girls,” Sani told the British newspaper.

“The group is most likely to want to attach some kind of conditions to the girls being released, such as the freeing of some of their own prisoners.”

Several countries, including the US and UK, are providing support to Nigeria in its effort to rescue the girls amid an international campaign that has caught global attention.

An unnamed Islamic cleric had told Associated Press during the week that the group was ready to negotiate ransoms for the release of the girls.

The US team that has arrived Nigeria to help in the rescue mission is said to include FBI agents who are versed in negotiation under similar circumstances.