Presidency confirms ceasefire deal with Boko Haram

By Soni Daniel

Hope rose Friday on the possibility of the release of the over 200 girls, who were seized from a school in Chibok, Borno State last April following a ceasefire agreement reached between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Boko Haram sect in Sadudi Arabia.

The deal was confirmed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe on Friday.

Okupe pointed out that a ceasefire deal had indeed been agreed by the two parties but did not say when the girls would be released to their agonising parents, who have been looking forward to reuniting with them since April 14 this year.

Okupe, who said the deal, was for a unilateral ceasefire by the Nigerian military and the Boko Haram insurgents, pointed out that the issues agreed upon would go through a process.

But he made it clear that in response to the agreement, the Nigerian army had stopped fighting the insurgents just as the sect had agreed to lay down their arms.

“There are some concessions that the Federal has agreed with the sect but I am not going to mention them. But we want cessation of insurgency and the safe return of the Chibok girls. We are on the path of achieving these,” Okupe said.

Asked why it took so long for the Federal Government to dialogue with the sect, the presidential aide pointed out that peace deal in any part of the world takes time and that Nigeria could not have been different.