Nigeria’s information minister has denied media reports that the Islamist militant group Boko Haram is demanding $50 million from the government as ransom before releasing the abducted Chibok schoolgirls.
President Muhammadu Buhari promised to do all he can to ensure the release of the school girls, following his recent meeting with parents of the abducted girls at the presidential villa in the capital, Abuja.
Information Minister Lai Mohammed said ransom reports are not new in an interview with the Voice of America.
“It appears we have several versions of this report. The one that we heard was from a source that [Boko Haram] wants to release 10 of these girls for 1 million euros,” Mohammed said.
“But the most important thing is that we’ve gone through this route before, and until and when we establish the credibility of this source and the truth behind it, the government will not be in a hurry to make a statement. However, government is using its own channels to authenticate the credibility of this source,” he said.
Mohammed said accusations that the Buhari administration appears not to be doing enough to secure the release of the more than 200 Chibok girls is not fair.
“No day passes without the issue of the kidnapped girls not being at the front burner. But these are highly security and intelligence issues, which cannot always be discussed openly,” he said. “But I can assure you that for this government, the return of these girls is what is going to bring the final closure on the Boko Haram terrorism and we are working very hard, daily on it.”
Mohammed’s remarks came after the government announced it has made significant progress in the fight against Boko Haram.
The administration said it has “technically” defeated Boko Haram. But critics say the militants continued attacks on unarmed civilians, including the use of suicide bombers, shows Boko Haram remains potent, despite the government’s reports.
“Those who say that are being very unfair to us,” Mohammed said.
“We inherited a very bad situation where the trail had gone cold, despite that every day we send out reports, we receive [information] some of them are phony some of them are just there to excoriate government.
“But the truth of the matter is that it’s not a matter that the government is taking lightly. Those who want a daily report on what we are doing, of course in security that does not happen. But we have channels of information in which we make available on a need to know basis,” he said.
Mohammed said Nigeria’s military has been able to wrestle control of territories previously under the control of the Boko Haram militants. He also said the militants have been dislodged from their fortresses, including their main operation center in the Sambisa Forest.
“What we have today is cowardly attacks on soft targets. … And Nigeria has moved on from that and we are now concentrating very much on the rehabilitation, resettlement of those who are displaced. And I think the fact that one of the most wanted persons all over the world was captured without even firing a shot last week. … I think, is evidence so far of Nigeria’s success in dealing with terrorism,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, was said to have demanded for $50 million (about N16 billion) ransom from the Fedewral Government so as to release the over 200 schoolgirls abducted in Chibok, Borno State, exactly two years after the kidnap.
A dollar currently exchanges for N320 at the parallel market, making the total ransom demand to be N16 billion.
According to the Telegraph of the United Kingdom, the group was said to have made the demand through a secret contact it made with the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, who had repeatedly said he was ready to negotiate with the freedom of the girls who were kidnapped in April 2014.
The group’s leader, Abubakr Shekau, had previously demanded the release of his jailed comrades in exchange for the girls.
However, a deal along those lines – brokered by the Red Cross – fell through after Nigerian prison officials said that commanders on a list given to them by Boko Haram were not in their custody.
Details of the new ransom request emerged ahead of the second anniversary of the girls kidnapping on the night of April 14, 2014, when they were abducted by Boko Haram gunmen posing as soldiers.
Despite their case receiving global attention because of the celebrity-backed #bringbackourgirls campaign on social media, diplomats and sources close to the negotiations say they are no closer to knowing the girls’ whereabouts.
The Nigerian military has made significant gains against Boko Haram in the last 18 months, raiding a number of the sect’s camps in Nigeria’s vast Sambisa forest, and freeing at least 1,000 women and children taken in other mass abductions.
Yet in none of the raids have rescued prisoners or captured fighters been able to give any convincing accounts of meeting or seeing any of the Chibok girls.
That indicates they are still being kept well away from other captives, and that their kidnappers see them as having huge symbolic value as hostages – thanks partly the publicity given to them by the social media campaign.
“I think they are probably in clusters rather than all in one place, but probably not far from each other,” said Shehu Sani, a senator and civil rights activist involved in peace attempts with Boko Haram, adding: “Boko Haram knows they are a prized catch.”
One source close to Boko Haram said that around three months ago, the group sent a message saying it would exchange the girls for a ransom of N16 billion, the equivalent of around $50 million.
“The ransom demand has split the government,” said the source: “Some think it would be worth it just to resolve the Chibok situation, but others say it will simply allow Boko Haram to hire yet more insurgent recruits.”
The same source also said that a month after the ransom demand, Boko Haram had secretly passed the government a new video tape showing 15 of the kidnapped girls.
“The girls are asked what their Christian names are and what their new Muslim names are,” he said, referring to the “conversion” that Boko Haram forces Christian prisoners to undergo.