Boko Haram, ISWAP Open Talks Over Release Of 50 Captives

Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists have reportedly opened negotiations for the release of 50 captives abducted from different areas of Borno State, excluding the 78 schoolchildren who were also taken during the same period in the state.

The terrorists, according to a report obtained by our correspondent on Saturday in Maiduguri, called on the government to come forward through a journalist to negotiate the release of over 50 abducted residents in the state.

The victims were abducted from several locations in the state, including the 16 travellers abducted along the Biu-Buratai Road in April this year while heading to Maiduguri.

The 42 Mussa pupils and the 36 Lassa students abducted between May and June this year were not part of the 50 captives for whose freedom the terrorists are seeking negotiations.

It could be recalled that following the abduction of the 16 travellers along the Biu-Buratai Road, the spokesperson for the families of the abducted victims, Hassan Yati, confirmed to journalists in Maiduguri that the abductors had provided the families with proof-of-life photographs and voice notes of the captives.

Yati added that the group demanded that the government open the path for negotiations, which must be through a journalist whose name was withheld.

He said they received voice notes informing them that their abducted family members were alive.

Yati noted that there were many more people in captivity than the number of their abducted family members, saying there were over 50 people being held.

“Government should reach out to them through a journalist mediator they have chosen, whose name I am withholding,” he stated.

The spokesperson, however, noted that they were willing to provide every necessary piece of information received to the government.

“So, if the government reaches out to us, we will link them up with the journalist, and they can pick it up from there,” he said.

When asked about other demands, Yati said the terrorist group was willing to further open up to the government.

“It does not have to be ransom, like the case of Oyo. The government has the cards,” he stressed.

He, however, called on the federal and state governments to act in the interest of the families, who have lived in agony since the abductions.

“The demand of the terrorists is simple. Let the government engage them through the mediator they have already chosen,” he added.

Our correspondent gathered that the 16 victims included a seven-month-old baby and her mother, a pregnant woman with a three-year-old child, and a couple travelling together. They were among those abducted while travelling from Biu to Maiduguri on April 15.

Others included some recent graduates, students and two siblings who sat in the boot of the vehicle due to their inability to pay the transport fare.

It could be further recalled that on July 23, families of the 16 victims and others in captivity converged at the Nigeria Union of Journalists Press Centre in Maiduguri, where they marked 100 days since the abduction and appealed to the government to expedite action for their release.

However, there has been a fresh wave of concern over the welfare and survival of the 78 Borno schoolchildren in terrorist dens following their abduction in separate attacks on schools in Askira/Uba Local Government Area of the state.