THE Presidency has nothing to do with Dr Stephen Davis, the Australian who was reported to be negotiating with Boko Haram insurgents to free the over 200 girls the terrorists abducted in Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State on April 14.
This is according to the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, who denied government’s knowledge of the negotiation when the Nigerian Tribune sought to confirm the authenticity of the claims made by Dr Davis, published in the United Kingdom-based MailOnline.
Abati pointed out that the Defence Headquarters had already distanced the military from the purported negotiation, saying that the position of the presidency could not be different from the military because “the military is directly responsible for the operation and takes instructions from the president.”
According to the tabloid, Dr Davis had left his home in Perth to travel to Nigeria, after being recruited by President Goodluck Jonathan for his hostage negotiation expertise and Davis was now desperately trying to free the schoolgirls.
The medium reported that Dr Davis, a friend of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, had been working secretly in Nigeria for almost a month now, quoting the former Canon Emeritus at Coventry Cathedral in the UK, who moved back to Australia last year, to have said “I am encouraged by the progress.”
It added that he was asked to come to Nigeria after previously brokering a truce between violent rebels and the government in the Niger Delta in 2004.
MailOnline said in an email from Nigeria, the doctor revealed he had “ongoing contact” with the groups involved in the kidnapping in the North for seven years, adding that “this is a long process of building trust on both sides.”
The report further quoted him as “there are several groups to deal with, as the girls are held in several camps. This makes any thought of a rescue highly improbable. To attempt to rescue one group would only endanger the others.”
It noted that despite the difficulties of a rescue operation, Dr Davis remained hopeful that the schoolgirls would be freed, quoting him as saying, “everyday, there is the possibility of the release of the girls.”
According to the MailOnline, Dr Davis warned: “we must not endanger their lives any further,” noting that his recent negotiation work has been to forward military position in the North-East in recent days.
Sect has no basis in Islam —OIC
The Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) has described members of the Boko Haram sect now wreaking havoc in parts of the country as outlaws, whose activities have no basis in Islam.
The Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, Mr Eyad Ameen Madani, told State House correspondents after leading officials of the conference for a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Monday, that the organisation condemned the terrorists and expressed its willingness to assist Nigeria in any way to fight terror.
Asked about their mission at the Villa, he said “we are here primarily to listen to His Excellency on his vision about the OIC in the years to come.
“We are also here to express our solidarity with Nigeria in facing up to this terrorist organisation and to condemn the terrorist acts they have been committing, we are also here to show our condolences to Nigerian people and to the families of those who have been affected.
“The OIC has already issued statements and we are very clear that these people are outlaws. What they do is criminal acts that have nothing to do with Islam, Islamic teaching, the religion and history of Islam, the culture and civilisation of Islam and we should identify them for what they are, a terrorist group.”
The OIC scribe said the conference would be willing to assist Nigeria morally and ethically and whichever way the country wanted it to intervene.
“The OIC is not a religious organisation. It is a political organisation made up of 57 member states with each state represented as a government. Nigeria is a member of the OIC as government of Nigeria. But it has to express the concern about the misuse of Islam. That is morally and ethically.
“We can also be and we are willing to do that, if our brothers here will like us to do that, to organise interfaith dialogue. We feel that there is a lot to be said about the veracity of these claims and to show the many aspects in similarity in living together between not only Christians and Muslims, but between all faiths and convictions,” he said.
Also speaking, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Wali, who led them to the Villa, reiterated the OIC’s expression of support and understanding with Nigeria over the current security situation in the country.
He added that it was a demonstration to Nigerians that the Islamic organisation was willing to help the country to overcome its present challenges.
According to the minister, “the fact that the OIC has expressed its position of support and understanding in these areas of our challenges goes to show that they are playing their roles to support any of its members states that have any problem, be it socially or economically, religiously or otherwise.”
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