Nigeria mulls Boko Haram 'amnesty' to end hostilities

By Rafiu Ajakaye

LAGOS, Nigeria (AA) - Nigeria is considering granting amnesty to “willing” Boko Haram militants as part of a comprehensive deal to end the near nine-year insurgency and free all captives, the country's secret police chief said on Monday.

“Negotiations for the release of more abducted Nigerians were already on, with considerations for the cessation of all hostilities and amnesty for the insurgents, who choose to embrace it,” a statement from the country’s presidency quoted Lawal Daura as saying when he led some captives recently freed to meet President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a deal inked with the help of several international partners, Nigeria recently secured the freedom of three university teachers and 10 policewomen who were abducted last year in the insurgency-wracked northeast.

Daura said the government prefers negotiating the release of hostages to armed rescue missions because the latter could jeopardize the safety of the victims as well as worsening attacks on soft targets by the militants.

“The negotiations were mainly centered on an attempt at conflict mitigation which include the fate of arrested members of insurgent groups, especially accepting to free by government those found not to be culpable in any criminal action,” he added.

“Also, the possible cessation of hostilities, especially the attacks with IEDs on innocent civilians, worship centers, schools and other public places in return for temporary stoppage of airstrikes by helicopter gunships,” he added.

Many Nigerians have criticized the government striking deals with the militants as ransoms purportedly paid in the process help to bolster the militants. The criticisms worsened after at least 110 schoolgirls were abducted in a girls-only government school in northeastern Yobe state -- the second such mass abductions in about four years.

On April 14, 2014, some 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped from their dormitory in neighboring Borno state. At least 113 of the girls remain in captivity.

Buhari said on Monday that efforts are afoot to ensure all the captives are freed.