“I Wasn’t Hired By The Nigerian Government” – Australian Negotiator, Stephen Davis

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Australian hostage negotiator Stephen Davis who has been widely described as a man hired by the Nigerian government to negotiate with Boko Haram in an effort to help free the Chibok girls, has allegedly said he was not in Nigeria (for four months) at the request of the federal government. In an interview with Soni Daniel, which was published on Vanguard today, Stephen allegedly said he was never engaged by the Nigerian government to dialogue with the sect.

“I was not engaged by the Federal Government of Nigeria, any state government or any other party. I went to Nigeria in late April in an effort to facilitate a handover of the Chibok captives after discussing such a possibility with former commanders of JAS (Jama’atu Ahlul Sunnah Lih Da’awa wal Jihad otherwise known as JAS) and others close to Boko Haram. Why did you release the report of your assignment to the media instead of sending it to government? I did not construct a report of my efforts in Nigeria. As I said earlier, I was not engaged by any party and therefore had no obligation to report to anyone.”

On why he thinks Nigerian politicians are sponsoring Boko Haram

The political sponsors of Boko Haram seem to think that they can use Boko Haram to terrorise Nigeria to demonstrate that the current government cannot ensure the security of Nigerian citizens both Muslim and Christian. Therein the sponsors assume they can undermine any efforts of the current government to be re-elected in 2015. Herein lies the flaw for the conflict and instability currently being fanned suits the aims of Al Qa’eda and the architects of terrorism. Should the sponsors of Boko Haram win government in 2015, they will likely find that they cannot turn Boko Haram off or that Boko Haram will demand control of at least Borno State in return for reducing their attacks. Borno State may be just the beginning of an expanding caliphate.

 

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