NEGOTIATIONS WITH TERRORISTS: AN ACT OF TERRORISM

By Chidi Aloysius Nwosu (Abia writers)
Edited by Livingrich Ezeikpe
During the time and tenure of the administration of Goodluck Jonathan, there was an increase in the activities of terrorists in the country, notably, Boko Haram. It was gathered that the group was being sponsored by Northern politicians, among them are Ali Ndume, Ali Modu sheriff the former governor of Borno state, Muhammadu Buhari and others. It will be recalled that during that period, Buhari said, “any attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the people of the north”. This singular act indicates that he knows something about the group. During the campaign in 2014, the same Buhari sponsored the bring back our girls group against the then government of Goodluck Jonathan. Bokoharam went ahead to name him the chief negotiator between them and the federal government.

Buhari promised to bring back the girls kidnapped by the group if elected the president, but how he was going to do it was what nobody knew. Fortunately for him, he was rigged into office, little did Nigerians know that he was going to negotiate with the terrorist group, which they formed and are funding towards the release of the girls thereby empowering them with Nigeria's money and weapons that were to be used to fight terrorism. After each negotiation, the terrorists came out stronger and more audacious.

In the same vein, in 2017, it was alleged that the Kaduna State government identified the herdsmen who were killing people in Southern Kaduna. The governor negotiated with them and paid them off so as to stop the killings in Southern Kaduna, but the more the acclaimed negotiation and payment were going on, the stronger and more difficult it was to stop killings, instead they came out with superior weapons and the killings increased.

Recently, another negotiation with the terrorists resulted in the kidnapping of 106 girls from Dapchi secondary school. After the kidnap the Nigerian government did not make any effort to even send its military after them but only resolved to negotiate again with the group. It was said that the group later returned some of the girls after yet another negotiation with the Nigerian government. However, it was alleged that during the return of the girls, the Nigerian military was withdrawn from Dapchi, the same way they were withdrawn on the day the girls were kidnapped. Journalists were banned from entering the town to cover what happened during the return of the girls by the said terrorist. It is feared that with this kind of negotiation with the terrorists, terrorism will never stop in Nigeria.