WHY BOKO HARAM INSURGENCY WOULD NOT END SOON

Civil right activist, Shehu Sani, has said mutual suspicion between parties and a tendency to procrastinate on the part of the Federal Government would make the abducted Chibok girls remain in captivity longer than necessary and the insurgency more difficult to end.

Sani, a major force in the negotiation efforts, said in an exclusive interview with THISDAY NEWSPAPER that the girls are currently in danger. He said their freedom should be the only preoccupation of the government, stressing that the insurgents have nothing to lose should any harm come to the girls. He said the best deal till date is the prisoner swap offer which was recently bungled.

“I can tell you that the best deal till date is the prisoner swap offer. I don’t know what else is on the table for the government because if we say we shall use force, we shall be endangering the lives of the girls,” he said.

Sani noted that if the American and Israeli governments can “swallow their pride” and agree on negotiations, he does not see why the authorities should shy away from agreeing on the terms of the insurgents.

He however acknowledged that the insurgents too have not been making matters any easy for the federal government. “I fully understand that the Federal Government is saying that negotiating with insurgents is not the way to go. That no responsible government should engage in such negotiations. They are also worried that freeing some of the prisoners the insurgents are asking for is a dangerous request considering the crime they have committed.

“On their own part, the sect has said they would only release some of the girls and not all of them. Now that is something the government can’t understand. But what we should all know is that the girls have now become human shields to the insurgents. They do not trust the government and I suspect this is mutual. However, like I said, it is the insurgents that are at an advantage in this deal. They have nothing to lose.”

If you say you won’t negotiate and invade the stronghold where the girls are kept, you risk their lives.”

On the recent botched efforts to release the girls, Sani confirmed that the process was going on well before it was scuttled. “I don’t want to go into details, but it is now in the public domain.

What I can say is that the negotiations and talks were ongoing successfully and then the problems also came.”

Sani, who is currently running for Senate in Kaduna state, said it was wrong for the military to continue giving false hopes to the populace. “You can give motivational speeches all you like to boost the morale of people, but I urge them to desist from giving spurious deadlines to the people. Insurgencies don’t go away overnight and to keep telling people that there are set deadlines is ridiculous. I would urge that the government should stop giving deadlines when the insurgency would end.”

Sani also chided the military on the death claims of the sect’s leader Abubakar Shekau. “I had my doubts and the fact is that many people are suspicious of these claims. The truth is that if Shekau is dead, the sect would have announced a successor. That’s their method. But I also understand what Shekau’s death would mean to the military in terms of bolstering of courage.”

On the insurgency itself, Sani said the nation should brace up for a long drawn battle, stressing that other nations who had the same problems are still grappling with it. He noted that while the use of force has led to the end of insurgency in countries like Algeria, dialogue is being employed by others such as the talk between the Talibans and the Afghanistan government.
“Ultimately, it is dialogue that is most effective. It took Algeria ten long years to fight off terrorism. But other examples have shown that dialogue is still the best solution. We can see how the United States are battling the ISIS insurgency. It is a double way approach. It is clear that we are under a serious threat and things are not what they used to be. The earlier we all realize the dangers we are in and brace up.”

Sani further noted that the door of opportunity for an amicable end to hostilities is still available.