The Federal Government announced yesterday that there has been a breakthrough in its bid to free the over 200 abducted Chibok girls, saying they will be released soon.
Chief of Defence Staff(CDS), Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh, also said at the end of a three day conference on Nigeria-Cameroon Trans-border military operations held in Abuja that a ceasefire has been agreed with terror group, with no conditions attached
Badeh, in his address at the occasion, said “Without any prejudice to the outcome of our three days interactions and the conclusions of this forum, I wish to inform this audience that a ceasefire agreement has been concluded between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Ahlul Sunna Li Daawa Wal Jihad (Boko Haram.)
“I have accordingly directed, the service Chiefs to ensure immediate compliance with this development in the field”.
In a related development, at a media briefing in Abuja,the Coordinator of National Information Centre, Mr Mike Omeri, said there was no condition attached to the peace deal from Boko Haram.
Omeri said :“the discussions are essentially in relation to the general insecurity in the north east and also the need to rescue all captives of the terrorists, including the students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok.”
He said “from the discussions, they indicated their desire for and willingness to discuss and resolve all associated issues. They also assured that the school girls and all other people in their captivity are all alive and well.
According to him, “Already, the terrorists have announced a ceasefire in furtherance of their desire for peace. In this regard, the government of Nigeria has, in similar vein, declared a ceasefire.
“Finally, this is to assure Nigerians that the greater goal of this process is to ensure the return of normalcy in the land, especially in parts of the country troubled by the activities of terrorists.”
The coordinator, while noting that the President of Chad, General Idriss Deby was the one facilitating the ceasefire deal, however refused to mention the identity of those negotiating on behalf of the federal government, but said the sect leader, Danladi Amodu was leading the group in the peace arrangement.
Answering reporters questions on why past dialogue with the sect had failed, the Director of Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, said such had never been confirmed by the government, as all of them were still within the realm of ‘hearsay’.
He said: “This time, this is being facilitated by government, so it is not just the sect, and I want to say that, I think people are not correct to say that, there has been similar thing before. The previous one is just a speculation, and it has never officially been endorsed anywhere.”