A new report has emerged about the Chibok girls abducted in Borno state on April 14,
that President Goodluck Jonathan received a video where the schoolgirls
were seen pleading for him to spare their lives, according to UK
Telegraph.
The
Boko Haram sects are said to have sent the video to the President by
an intermediary, a Nigerian Journalist, Ahmad Salika in a bid to change
the mind of Jonathan concerning his rejection of the original deal to
swap the school girls for Boko haram prisoners.
It
was yesterday reported that the President changed his mind at the last
minute to 'Swap the girls' after warnings from Western countries at the
security summit in Paris.
Apparently the Nigerian Journalist, Ahmad Salika who serves as an intermediary is the only Nigerian Journalist with access to Boko Haram
was flown into the country some weeks back by the Nigerian government
to facilitate negotiations between the Nigerian government and Boko
Haram.
Ahmad
Salkida who was reported to have told President Goodluck Jonathan that
the use of force will not bring back the abducted girls alive from the
Insurgent’s den obtained the video as a way of proving to Mr
Jonathan’s office that he had authentic lines of communication to Boko
Haram’s leaders.
Salkida who left the country two years ago to
Dubai for fear of his live after being arrested in the past and
associated with the sects as a result of his closeness to them, upon his
return back to the country was said to have headed up into the remote
bushland areas where the group operate, meeting a senior assistant of
Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau.
The Federal government still in doubt of Salkida asked for a prove, a source said:
“The
government said to the intermediary to prove himself to show whether he
was capable of brokering a deal or not, and insisted that he should
obtain proof of life of the hostages,” the source said. “So during his
talks with the insurgents, he obtained a DVD which had clips of girls
being interviewed by members of the group, in which they asked President
Jonathan to do a prisoner swap to get them freed.
“That DVD was
shown to the government, and a deal was arranged so that the girls would
have been released a week ago on Monday, but at last minute the
government backed out.”
The Nigerian government aside pressure
from Western countries at the security summit in Paris not to accept the
Boko haram terrorists demand to 'Sap the girls', a source said that
they appear to be afraid that "if they do a prisoner swap, they will
lose the support of the West.”
The source further said, the
negotiations had now “crashed”, with Mr Salkida returning to Dubai while
the DVD remains in the possession of the Nigerian government and has
not been released publicly.
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