Nigeria’s leader, military split on how to free girls
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NIGERIA’S military chiefs and the president are apparently split over how to free nearly 300 schoolgirls abducted by Islamic extremists, with the military saying use of force endangers the hostages lives and the president reportedly ruling out a prisoner-hostage swap.
The defense chief, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, announced on Monday night that the military has located the girls, but offered no details or a way forward.
“We can’t go and kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back,” he told reporters.
Previous military attempts to free hostages have led to prisoners being killed by their abductors.
A human rights activist close to mediators said a swap of detained extremists for the girls was negotiated a week ago but fell through because President Goodluck Jonathan refused to consider an exchange.
Britain’s Minister for Africa Mark Simmonds said two weeks ago that the Nigerian leader had told him categorically he would not consider a prisoner swap.
Community leader Pogu Bitrus of Chibok, the town from which the girls were abducted on April 15, says authorities are speaking with “discordant voices” and the president appears under pressure to negotiate.
“The pressure is there if his own lieutenants are saying one (thing). Because if they cannot use force, the deduction is that there must be negotiation,” Bitrus said.
“And if their commander-in-chief, the president, is saying that he will not negotiate, then they are not on the same page.”
Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno state, the birthplace of the Boko Haram extremists and the northeastern state from which the girls were abducted, said recently: “We impress on the federal authorities to work with our friends that have offered to assist us to ensure the safe recovery of the innocent girls.”
Nigeria’s military and government have faced national and international outrage over their failure to rescue the girls seized by Boko Haram militants from a remote school six weeks ago.
Amnesty International said the authorities failed to act, even though they were warned hours before the abductions.
Similar accusations are now coming out about the twin bomb attacks in the central city of Jos that left more than 130 people dead on May 20. Traders in the Terminus market say police failed to act after traders warned them about an abandoned vehicle hours before the bombings.
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