The BringBackOurGirls movement has said it supports Buhari’s invitation to the UN in the negotiation with Boko Haram on the move to release the Chibok girls.
Punch reports that BBOG’s spokesmen, Abubakar Abdullahi said on Thursday the group endorsed any step that would facilitate the rescue of the Chibok schoolgirls.
President Muhammadu Buhari had told the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, that Nigeria will welcome intermediaries from the global body to negotiate with Boko Haram over the release of the over 200 girls kidnapped in Chibok, Borno State, over two years ago.
Buhari’s Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, in a statement on Tuesday, quoted the President as saying this during a bilateral meeting with the UN scribe on the sidelines of the 71st UN General Assembly in New York.
The President said the Nigerian government was willing to bend over backwards to free the Chibok girls, who were kidnapped from the Government Secondary School, Chibok, on April 14, 2014.
Buhari stated, “The challenge is in getting credible and bona fide leadership of Boko Haram to discuss with. The split in the insurgent group is not helping matters. The government had reached out, ready to negotiate, but it became difficult to identify credible leaders. We will welcome intermediaries such as the UN outfits to step in.”
The President noted that the teachings of Boko Haram were far from being Islamic, adding that neither Islam nor any other religion advocated hurting the weak and the innocent.
“The fact that they kill men, women, children and other people wantonly, and shout Allahu Akbar (God is great) shows that they do not know Allah at all. If they did, they would not shed innocent blood,” Buhari said.
He commended Ban for the moral and material support given to Nigeria, which had enabled the country to surmount many of the challenges it had faced.
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