President Muhammadu Buhari reportedly turned down the chance to have the Chibok girls released after he rejected the notion of paying a ransom for the girls.
This was revealed by the author of his book; “Muhammadu Buhari: The challenges of leadership in Nigeria”, written by Prof. John Paden.
Paden alleged inside the book that the terrorist sect had demanded a whopping sum of €5billion (about N1,706,850,000,000) which the President refused to pay.
The book was launched on Monday in Abuja and inside it the failed negotiations between the Federal Government and Boko Haram was examined.
Excerpts of the book read; “An additional issue was the status of the Chibok girls. Secret negotiations had been held regarding an exchange of Boko Haram prisoners for the girls.
“On several occasions, prisoners were taken to Maiduguri to facilitate an exchange. But these negotiations stalled when Boko Haram demanded a ransom of €5billion for the girls.
“The dilemma for the DSS, which was handling the negotiations, was that a military assault to rescue the girls would almost certainly result in their deaths at the hands of their Boko Haram captors.
“But the Nigerian government was not going to accede to Boko Haram’s extra-ordinary demand for a vast sum of money which would no doubt be used to fund future attacks.
“One or two girls were able to escape their captors in May, but the rest remained captive and the impasse continued
“The Chibok girls were not alone in their grim fate. Hundreds if not thousands, of persons had been captured by Boko Haram in the North-East. Buhari would need to continue degrading Boko Haram until he could tighten the noose around its Sambisa hideouts and bring a close end to this painful episode.”
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