By Ezrel Tabiowo
Abuja
President of the Senate, David Mark, yesterday said the federal government will not consider negotiating with insurgents for the release of the 276 abducted school girls in Chibok, Borno state, adding that their demand was “unreasonable.”
Mark said the question of negotiation with Boko Haram was not an option up for consideration by government, as it will do all that is expedient to free the girls held captives.
Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, had in a video message boasted that “these are the girls abducted by us that the Nigerian government has been calling for their release. We won’t release them to you and you can’t take them away from us no matter how you tried. We would only release them if you, the government release our brothers you have arrested and detained for four to five years now.”
In a statement issued yesterday in Abuja, Mark, in his reaction to Shekau’s brazen declaration, told journalists in Beijing, China, that the federal government would not negotiate with terrorists ‘of which Shekau is one, under whatever circumstance.”
He said: “Nigeria will not negotiate with terrorists under any circumstance because you don’t negotiate with criminals which Boko Haram insurgents are.
“We are doing everything possible to bring the girls back safe and sound for their parents without any negotiation with Boko Haram as every effort towards that which cannot be disclosed in the public is being made to rescue the girls.”
He urged Nigerians to cooperate with both the government and the security agencies on the war by giving out vital information at their disposal on the insurgents and their sponsors.