Nigeria ready to 'swap' Boko Haram prisoners for Chibok girls

Information minister says government prepared to intervene
in case of 276 girls kidnapped in 2014

Ruth Maclean in Dakar, Emmanuel Akinwotu in Lagos and Isaac Abrak in Abuja
Friday 16 September 2016 22.58 BST

Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, is prepared to swap Boko Haram prisoners for the Chibok schoolgirls, a minister has said.

Last year the government almost secured the release of the girls whose kidnapping triggered global outrage, but three times the negotiations collapsed. On the first occasion, in August, Buhari had agreed to the prisoner swap and the militants were taken to Maiduguri, the city Boko Haram regards as its spiritual home.

“All things were in place for the swap which was mutually agreed,” Lai Mohammed, the information minister, said in a statement. “Expectations were high. Unfortunately, after more than two weeks of negotiation and bargains, the group, just at the dying moments, issued a new set of demands never bargained for or discussed by the group before the movement to Maiduguri. All this while, the security agencies waited patiently. This development stalled what would have been the first release process of the Chibok girls.”

The recent battle for the leadership of the group that has murdered, raped and kidnapped thousands of people and displaced millions has been a major setback in negotiations, he said. Islamic State, of which Boko Haram is an affiliate, announced last month that Abu Musab al-Barnawi was its new leader, replacing Abubakar Shekau – something analysts say may have been a reaction to the many Muslims murdered under his tenure.

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