See the Staggering Amount of Money Boko Haram Wants From FG to Release Chibok Girls
President Muhammadu Buhari
It has been revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari rejected Boko Haram
demand of €5billion (about N1,706,850,000,000) to free 219 Chibok
girls.
This was revealed in the book “Muhammadu Buhari: The challenges of leadership in Nigeria”, authored by Prof. John Paden.
The book, which was presented to the public on Monday at the
International Conference Centre in Abuja, contained some unknown issues
about the President.
Especially of importance is the botched negotiation between Boko Haram and the Federal Government.
Some excerpts from the book according to The Nation, reveals thus: “An
additional issue was the status of the Chibok girls. Secret
negotiations had been held regarding an exchange of Boko Haram prisoners
for the girls.
“On several occasions, prisoners were taken to Maiduguri to
facilitate an exchange. But these negotiations stalled when Boko Haram
demanded a ransom of €5billion for the girls.
“The dilemma for the DSS, which was handling the negotiations, was
that a military assault to rescue the girls would almost certainly
result in their deaths at the hands of their Boko Haram captors.
“But the Nigerian government was not going to accede to Boko Haram’s
extra-ordinary demand for a vast sum of money which would no doubt be
used to fund future attacks.
“One or two girls were able to escape their captors in May, but the rest remained captive and the impasse continued
“The Chibok girls were not alone in their grim fate. Hundreds if not
thousands, of persons had been captured by Boko Haram in the
North-East. Buhari would need to continue degrading Boko Haram until he
could tighten the noose around its Sambisa hideouts and bring a close
end to this painful episode.”
The book also gave insight on why placed his ministers on lower salaries
and allowances, the author said the President wanted to make
ministerial appointment less attractive as a way of curbing corruption
in public office.
He went on: “Buhari was trying to eliminate the allure of
ministerial appointments as a means of accruing wealth either through
receiving a generous salary or through exploiting power for corrupt
personal gain.
“Of course, the effort to combat corruption also required creating
disincentives for corrupt practices strong enough to dissuade ministers
from ‘chopping’ on the side. The penalty if caught would be dismissal
and public shaming.”
Concerning the arrest of a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs.
Diezani Alison-Madueke, the author said the ties between the President
and ex-Prime Minister David Cameron made it possible.
“Yet the close ties between Buhari and British (former) Prime
Minister David Cameron facilitated efforts to launch a coordinated
effort to bring money launderers to book, as demonstrated in the role of
the London Metropolitan Police in the case of Diezani Alison-Madueke.”
The National Crime Agency (NCA) in the UK arrested and quizzed Mrs
Alison-Madueke and four others on October 2, 2015 for alleged bribery
and corruption and money laundering.
Also the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has
interrogated between three and five more suspects since Mrs
Alison-Madueke’s interrogation by the NCA.
The same NCA had last year obtained permission from a Westminster
Magistrate’s Court to seize £27,000 from Mrs Alison-Madueke and two
other women.
Regarding the counter-coup of August 27, 1985 which led to Buhari’s
removal as a military Head of State and the emergence of ex-President
Ibrahim Babangida, the author said the President knew a plot was coming
but he did not want to shed blood.
The book reads: “The question has arisen subsequently as to whether Buhari knew about the countercoup in advance.
“Given his ‘appreciation’ of complex situations, it is argued by
some, how could he not have known? Some of those closest to Buhari at
the time have subsequently argued that he did know a countercoup was
coming. They insist that Buhari calculated that to preempt this plan
would have meant executing six or eight senior officers. This he was
unwilling to do.”
The book explained that Buhari was detained after the 1985 coup in Akure and Benin from August 27, 1985 to December 1988.
The book states: “Babangida also tried to look for ways to indict
Buhari personally, but his integrity and grassroots popularity helped
protect him.
“After the Babangida countercoup, three of the ministers were
retained. Babangida also set up the Aboyade probe into the finances of
Buhari and some key ministers but the investigators could find no
evidence of any personal aggrandisement on his part during his term as
Head of State.
“Significantly, the three ministers retained from the previous
administration by Babangida-Lukman, Bali and David-West— strongly
defended the integrity of Buhari and his close associates, and no
charges were ever brought against Buhari.
“Meanwhile, Buhari had been taken from Lagos by plane to Akure in
Ondo State. After a few months in Akure, he was taken to Benin City in
the south of the country, where he would stay under house arrest until
his release in December 1988.”
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