The Federal government has rejected Islamist militant’s offer to release the girls they hold active in exchange for Boko haram prisoners. Boko Haram released a video apparently showing about 130 girls kidnapped from a school in northern Nigeria on 14 April. The militant’s leader Abubakar Shekau said the children would be held until all imprisoned militants had been freed. But Nigeria’s Interior Minister Abba Moro rejected the deal, telling newsmen that it was “absurd” for a “terrorist group” to try to set conditions. Moro said “terrorists” cannot set conditions.
A man ,who is not named to protect his child’s identity – said:
“I have not yet seen the video, but I am not really interested in what Boko Haram’s demands are,” he said. “My daughter is a Christian, she will never change. I would rather she died as a princess than convert to Islam. I don’t want a prisoner exchange either – our daughters are not prisoners, and they should not be exchanged for anyone,” he said. “Let the government try to rescue them. If they have a prisoner exchange, that will look like the government is giving into Boko Haram, and it will just encourage them to take more hostages. They will never stop”
The DG of the National Orientation Agency, Mike Omeri, said FG would explore all other options to rescue the girls but would not negotiate with terrorists
“All options are on the table and open, we are interacting with the military and intelligent experts who are already on surveillance in the North Eastern part of the country. We will adopt all available options to get the girls out, but we will not negotiate with the sect”
Abubakar Shekau’s offer to swap the girls for imprisoned militants only referred to the children who had not converted to Islam. It is thought the majority of the abducted girls are Christians, although there are a number of Muslims among them.