The Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, yesterday in an interview with BBC has said the Buhari led Government is not ruling out negotiations with boko haram sect. When asked whether it would work, Mr Adesina replied saying;
“This is going to work. There are machineries being put in place. It’s going to work. The recent killings by the sect were meant to break our resolve, to weaken it, but that will stop. It remains a priority to him (Buhari) to deal with the group.
“You will notice that his first two weeks of administration were dedicated to tackling the insurgency. He visited Chad and Niger Republics and the following week, the Presidents of those countries also visited him in Abuja. The President of Benin Republic and the Defence Minister of Cameroon visited him; machinery is being put in place and once we’re through, we will see the end of the group. The target time for the deployment of the multinational force is July ending; that is in a couple of weeks.”
When further asked if the Federal Government was actually considering negotiations, Adeshina said;
“If they are willing, why not? You know attempts have been made for negotiations in the past and they didn’t work. Every reasonable person would want to see the end to this insurgency. So if they are willing, why not? You can’t rule that out.”