Should Federal Government Swap Chibok Schoolgirls For Boko Haram Detainees? Lawyers Say No, Yes. TUNDE OYESINA Reports

They have remained in the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents’ captivity for about two years now. Their hope of regaining freedom and reunited with their loved ones particularly their parents is still hanging in the balance two years after they were abducted from their school- Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State on April 14, 2014.

No fewer than 276 of the students were abducted by the insurgents, although about 57 of them escaped from the insurgents. Two years after, the 276 schoolgirls are still in captivity just as 19 of their parents who could no longer endure the agony of their endless return had died while others are on wheel chair.

Just like their dead parents, some of the abducted schoolgirls are dead also as however claimed by the sect that the girls were killed by air strikes launched by the Nigerian Air Force on their hideouts. The sect had also released a video which showed a masked armed man standing in front of several girls, whom he claimed were the over 200 girls abducted from their hostel at the GSS in 2014.

According to the insurgents, the video was released to send a message to the parents of the girls to beg the government to release Boko Haram members in detention centres across the nation in exchange for the girls. They said: ‘‘It pleased God to let us have these girls in our captivity for over two years now.

Our first message is to the parents of the girls to let them know that their daughters are still with us. I also want to tell them to beg the Nigerian government to release our brethren, especially those in Maiduguri, Lagos and Abuja and other places across Nigeria. They should be released immediately.

‘‘You all knew that we had the girls, but God never allowed you to know their location and you will never know by God’s grace. You keep lying in your media that you will rescue them; they have been with us for over two years, yet you don’t know where they are. You have been lying about these girls. For over two years that we have been with these girls, about 40 of them have been married, some are dead as a result of airstrikes by infidels.

We will show you a video of how your own aircraft dropped a bomb that killed some of these girls. Some of the girls have suffered fractures and other form of injuries as a result of the air strikes. ‘‘As you can see, these are the girls, all we want is for you to release our brethren, otherwise, you will never get these girls, God willing.

This is our message to the Federal Government and the parents of the Chibok girls. As long as the government does not release our people, we will also never release these girls.” One of the girls, Maida Yakubu (Dorcas), who spoke in both Hausa and Kibaku, her native language, asked parents to “be patient and beg the government to release their people, so that we will also be released.”

Reacting to the call, the Federal Government had promptly responded that it was in touch with members of the Boko Haram insurgents. Last week, a forum-Bring Back our girls, comprising the schoolgirls parents and a former Minister for Education, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili protested what they described as the Federal Government’s refusal to bring back the schoolgirls two years after their abduction despite assurances by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in our of the part’s campaigns for the 2015 general elections.

Apparently shocked that the ruling government had not lived up to its promise to rescue the abducted girls, parents of the schoolgirls asked President Muhammadu Buhari to step down if he was handicapped in rescuing the girls from captivity of Boko Haram members.

Parechibok girls boko haramnts’ spokesman, Rev. Mark Enoch, who spoke on behalf of other parents at the sit out of BringBack- OurGirls Group (BBOG) held at the road to Presidential Villa where Police stopped the march staged to meet the President, challenged him to abdicate his office for other people that had capabilities to rescue the girls. Mark, whose two daughters were among those still being held by the terrorists is being confined to a wheel chair due to stroke he suffered as a result of trauma.

He lamented that Chibok community people voted for President Buhari with high hope that as a retired military General, he would facilitate the immediate rescue of the girls. President Buhari confirmed the insurgents’ view that nobody could say the whereabouts of the girls and that the government was being careful with various sources of information being reported in the media.

But he was however quick to assure the schoolgirls’ parents that the federal government would not hesitate to swap the Boko Haram detainees with the abducted Chibok schoolgirls if the insurgents were ready to show face for dialogue.

His Information Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said the government was being cautious in order to establish that it was dealing with the right people. He said: “The government is in touch with those behind the video.

We are on top of the situation. We are being extremely careful because the situation has been compounded by the split in the leadership of Boko Haram. We are also being guided by the need to ensure the safety of the girls.

“Since this is not the first time we have been contacted over the issue. We want to be doubly sure that those we are in touch with are who they claim to be. We hope that the latest development will signal the beginning of the end of the nightmare to which the girls, their families and indeed all Nigerians have been subjected since the unfortunate abduction.”

Also, the defence authorities had stated that the decision on the planned swap of the Chibok schoolgirls for Boka Haram detainees could only be taken by political leaders.Defence information, Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar said “we should not close our eyes on other people who have been rescued recently as a result of Operation Crack Down.

The issue of exchange is purely for our respected political leaders. The military would continue with our operation.” Should the federal government go ahead with the planned swap of the detained insurgents with the schoolgirls? Lawyers said no, yes.

While some vehemently kicked, describing the planned swap as dangerous and illogical as it would lead to bad precedent, others believe there was nothing beyond measure by the government in exchange of the abducted schoolgirls.

To a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome while quoting a former President of America, JF Kennedy, as saying that “you should never negotiate out of fear. There are times that we have to stoop to conquer’’, said we are talking of lives here; we are talking of little children, fairly between the ages of 10 and 16 years, taking into the wilderness by Boko Haram. “The parents of these little children are traumatised; they cannot sleep and they cannot eat.

They do not know the fate of their children. Shekau has said initially that he will sell the girls into slavery; he has changed his position to exchanging them for the arrested Boko Haram people. The question now is what is the way out? Ozekhome went on: “I therefore do not say that the idea of negotiation with Boko Haram is so alien to the government, that it is suddenly a taboo. The government has been accused that it was playing a game of stick and carrot. We are now talking about human lives.

This is one area where I throw my weight behind the government of Nigeria, to negotiate with these people to release these little innocent girls. Some of who will become ministers, governors and top government functionaries in Nigeria.”

Another Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Chris Uche asked government to leave every option open, saying there was the need for the government to explore all options and possibilities to get the girls back to their parents. Mr. Johnson Igiebor described the swap deal as a very difficult approach to get those girls back.

Igiebor said: “It would be difficult for anybody to say the Boko Haram detainees should not be released in order to get the Chibok girls back. Otherwise, what would prompt a sovereign nation to begin to negotiate with hoodlums? The identities of the Boko Haram leaders are unknown. You cannot trust them when you make an agreement with them.

This is like the government of the United States negotiating with Iran on an exchange of prisoners. These are people we do not even know. It is a very tricky issue. “But if a swap deal is what it would take to get the girls back, we have to do it. However, whoever would mediate between the government and the insurgent group has to be very credible.

He has to be sure that if we release the detainees, the girls would come back. Are the girls still alive? We need to be sure. The insurgents claimed that bombs killed some of them. How many of them are still alive? Is the video that has triggered the fresh controversy real? These are the critical questions we must ask.

Unfortunately, there is no credible representative of the group that these questions could be addressed to? This is because we are dealing with faceless people. “So, it is difficult to ascertain the truth in what the group is saying? Supposing this is a ruse and the government goes ahead to release the detained insurgents, who would the government hold responsible?

And how is the government going to report to the people that it failed in such a sensitive mission? But beyond logic, the girls are members of the society, hence, it is important that government does what it needs to do to secure their freedom. “We have used the stick effectively. We can now use the stick and carrot approach. The government should be willing to go into negotiation.

The girls have suffered a lot in the hands of the insurgents. So, we cannot ignore any avenue that may lead to the successful release of the girls. I support the call for negotiation. “When you are negotiating, there are always goalposts.

Boko Haram has placed its goalpost, asking the government to release its members who were captured with a promise that it would reciprocate by freeing the Chibok girls. I suspect that the new leadership of the group may end the hot war if the government agrees to sit down to discuss with the group. But in negotiating with them, there should be an element of verifiability. Boko Haram must trust the government enough to allow the Federal Government to see the captives physically.

The girls and their families are suffering. So, we must not raise their hopes and reach an agreement with the sect, fulfill our own side of the agreement just to find out that there are no girls to be released. “Also, the deal should be expanded beyond just a swap.

The group must be ready to take the negotiation to a second phase, which is ending its terror activities. And if that must happen, the Federal Government should be ready to give amnesty to those who would lay down their arms and pledge allegiance to Nigeria.”

Another lawyer and rights activists, Mr. Kayode Ajulo said that the Federal Government should negotiate with the group and release the girls. He said: “It should release the detained insurgents so that they could release the girls.

You cannot sacrifice the girls on the basis that the detained insurgents would wreck havoc on Nigerians if they were released. The argument is not logical because government does not know the capacity of the insurgents in its custody. You also have the time to plan a countermove ahead of tomorrow. But you do not have an option to the release of the girls who had been in captivity for over two years.

“The excuses the current administration is giving are not different from those of the past administration. What has changed between the past administration and the current one? It is the same demand from the Boko Haram sect; the same excuses from the two administrations.

The government should negotiate with the group and release the girls. Anything we must do to free the Chibok girls must not be dismissed. But looking at the antecedents of swap negotiations, we cannot be sure whether the insurgents are saying the truth or not.

So, the fear is whether the Boko Haram insurgents would fulfill their part of the agreement if we release the detainees. “I remember that the past administration went through a similar process. At the end, it appeared like a trick. But the experience must not discourage us.

The girls have families. People have expressed doubts over whether the girls are still alive or not. But Boko Haram has just released their video and photographs. That means that they are alive. I know there are a lot of political and security dimensions to the advocated negotiation.

But the most important thing to Nigerians is the release of the girls.” FIDA member, Christianah Aboi urged government to seriously consider anything that would aid the release of the Chibok girls. She said: “I do not have the details of the swap discussion. But it is important that government takes every opportunity to facilitate the release of the girls. And if negotiating a swap is an option that would get traction, the government should consider it. Even Israel and Palestine have been making swap arrangements.

“For me, the swap proposal is a light at the end of a long tunnel. We should not allow the light to disappear. We should take advantage of it to release the girls from their captors. There would be experts who know how to negotiate and what to negotiate. They should be involved.

Those people should be able to know the prisoners in the detention that would be considered qualified for a swap. Prisoner swap is generally not an open-ended exercise. There should be preconditions that would guide the process.

The government should approach the process with the required seriousness to give Nigeria a relief.” Benjamin Ugorji noted that the government has done the right thing by exploring dialogue as a path to resolve the problem.

He however disagreed on the planned Boko Haram insurgents’ swap with the schoolgirls, describing it as legally and morally wrong to propose the release of the suspects in exchange for the innocent girls. Ugorji said: “That is not acceptable.

The people terrorising the country cannot give terms and their demands are irritating. It is the height of ignorance. You have harmed people and you are asking that some people should be released from detention before you can release the girls.

They are trying to ridicule the government and our nation. I am not happy about the whole situation. There are experts who can handle the negotiation with the sect. But their condition is not right.” Toyin Bamgbose said: “The two sides are holding hostages, although the Federal Government may say it is holding criminals. It may be the beginning of a peaceful resolution of the problem.

The Federal Government has no alternative than to dialogue. The offer should be accepted as it will give room for meaningful dialogue.” But Dennis Olawale described the swap deal as unfortunate and uncalled for. He said: “I cannot support that.

The children have nothing to do with their claims, what they want and what they are fighting for. If they want to fight the government as terrorist, they can fight the government. But they cannot be seizing girls. Why should they go to schools to disrupt the peace of the place? I don’t support the idea of conditional release of the innocent girls.

Let them release the children to their families and embrace dialogue. Why should faceless people give conditions to government? While nothing would be too much on the side of the government to ensure that the girls are released and reunited with their families.

The government should however be wary of succumbing to demands by terrorists as it would send a wrong signal in future to others who would want to blackmail the nation when it is faced with such situation in future. I think the Federal Government should follow the lead from the release video about the girls and track them down while it buys time with the exchange proposal.”

The Newtelegraph

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