We May Negotiate With Boko-Haram- Pres. Buhari

The Special Adviser to President Muhammadu
Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina,
on Friday, disclosed in an interview with the
BBC, that the Federal Government has said
that it is open to negotiations with the Boko
Haram sect in order to find a lasting solution
to the security crisis in the country, if the
group is willing.
In the interview, Adesina said the Federal
Government was not ruling out negotiations
with the sect if it would put an end to the
activities of the group, stating that the
insurgents had attacked so many villages and
killed scores of people.
When BBC asked if the Federal Government
was considering negotiations with the
insurgent group, Adesina said:
“If they are willing, why not? You know
attempts have been made for
negotiations in the past and they didn’t
work. Every reasonable person would
want to see the end to this insurgency.
So if they are willing, why not? You
can’t rule that out.”
“These were very vicious attacks.
People were killed in scores and it’s so
sad,” he said.
The President had during his inauguration
speech said he had launched a strategy to
deal with the sect by relocating the military
headquarters to Maiduguri, Borno State.
When asked if this would work, Adesina
replied:
“This is going to work. There are
machineries being put in place. It’s
going to work. The recent killings by
the sect were meant to break our
resolve, to weaken it, but that will stop.
It remains a priority to him (Buhari) to
deal with the group.
“You will notice that his first two weeks
of administration were dedicated to
tackling the insurgency. He visited
Chad and Niger Republics and the
following week, the Presidents of those
countries also visited him in Abuja.
“The President of Benin Republic and
the Defence Minister of Cameroon
visited him; machinery is being put in
place and once we’re through, we will
see the end of the group. The target
time for the deployment of the
multinational force is July ending; that
is in a couple of weeks.”