Nigeria invites UN to join talks with Boko Haram to free Chibok girls

Nigeria has extended a hand to the United Nations to send intermediaries to join the negotiation table with Boko Haram for the release of missing Chibok girls abducted in 2014.

President Muhammadu Buhari at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly at New York on Thursday told outgoing Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that UN outfits are welcome as intermediaries in the deal.

“The split in the insurgent group is not helping matters. Government had reached out, ready to negotiate, but it became difficult to identify credible leaders. We will welcome intermediaries such as UN outfits, to step in,” a statement from the presidency quoted Buhari.

He reiterated his government’s readiness to release Boko Haram leaders in exchange for the missing Chibok girls.

The insurgent group in a recent video in August stated that a prisoner swap was the only way they would accept to release the remaining 219 Chibok girls who are still in their custody.

Pressure has been mounting on the Nigerian government to act swiftly in the search for the school girls who were abducted in 2014 after a raid of their school dormitories by Boko Haram in Chibok while they were sleeping at night.

A series of protests were held in August by the Bring Back Our Girls activists demanding a swift response by the government.