The senator representing Kaduna Central district, Shehu Sani has stated that the abducted Chibok girls will be found but implored the Federal Government to negotiate with some persons to get the girls out of their current danger.

The senator said that the recent happenings in the country pointed to the fact that the carnage the Boko Haram terrorist sect has unleashed on the country in the last seven years was sustained by a select few that profited from the situation.

He revealed this while speaking in Akure on Wednesday, February 24 at a symposium held as part of the 40th Anniversary of Ondo State.

He said: “Something that has bothered some of us here in line with the insurgency is, when will the Chibok girls be freed. Someone said the Chibok girls will never be free, but I can tell you that they will be free and they are alive.”

Further speaking on the issue, Sani explained the ways through which the abducted girls can be captured .

“There are two ways to get them: the first is to use force to free them and before you apply force, you have to know where they are. You also have to weigh the consequences of raiding the camp with such number of persons, because the insurgents have nothing to lose.”

“The second option is to explore ways of extracting them out through negotiation and negotiation is still possible. There are a few people, not a panel of eminent Nigerians or a panel, there are a few people who the government needs to reach out to.”

He went ahead to reveal that the girls could not be rescued during the administration of Goodluck Jonathan because one of the parties was not ready for concession during negotiations.

“They said they were going to free the girls on the condition we freed their people. And when we came to the negotiating table, and the government said it cannot free the terrorists because they have done a lot of harm,” he recalled.

Sani also revealed that the terrorists have a leadership structure as well as a theocratic agenda.

“For those who have been following events in the last six to seven years, we have seen how some of us from the north, particularly myself, I tried to find an alternative means of addressing the problem of the insurgency.”

“I took the risk of reaching out to the insurgents and initiating a process of dialogue, about three to four times and it was sabotaged by those who were benefiting from the bloodshed and I think the unfolding events in the country clearly shows to all Nigerians that there were people who see that seven years of bloodshed, of mass murder, of genocide as an opportunity for them to amass wealth.”

“It is not possible to say that an insurgent group or people not more than two to three thousand have proved so difficult for a nation of 175 million people to crush.”

“A nation like ours with a reputable armed forces and have performed creditably well in peace keeping missions in Liberia and sierra Leone and Congo and other countries of the world. It was so clear that some see it as an opportunity, like the Chinese saying, some people see crisis as a struggle, others see it as an opportunity.”

“That is why it dragged on for so long, but I hope with the present administration, at least progress has been made in terms of degrading the capacity and ability of Boko Haram to take up territories.”

Adebayo Emuleomo