How Chibok girls were released, by Sen. Shehu Sani

By Seun Opejobi 

Senator representing Kaduna Central District, Shehu Sani says, he drafted the master plan that led to the release of the 21 Chibok girls last week by Boko Haram insurgents.

Senator Shehu Sani

Recall that the Islamic set had on Thursday last week released 21  out of the over 200 girls it abducted two years ago in Chibok, Borno State.

However, Sani, yesterday said he facilitated the involvement of Switzerland and the Internantional Red Cross in transporting the girls to safety, Nation reports.

According to Sani, “Well I actually did not take part in the negotiation but I was the one who drafted the master plan for the negotiation, and I was also the one who invited the Swiss and the RCRC into it, and I was also the one who linked the Swiss with the person who negotiated.

“This master plan started from 2014 but it was followed through with the effort of the person who negotiated ,who happened to be Mustapha Zanna, a lawyer in Maiduguri. I was the one who brought Mustapha Zanna in with Switzerland and the RCRC.”

The activist noted that with the confidence built on both sides, the remaining abducted girls may soon be released.

He said, “I believe that this government has achieved what has never been achieved and there I have the confidence that the other girls will also be released through the same process that was taken for these ones to be released.

 “The confidence has been built on both sides and the parties have agreed to do more. I can tell you that there was no prisoner swap. There was none.

“So this effort ,this success , could be said to be the joint effort of Mustapha Zanna, Switzerland RCRC and the Department of State Security (DSS).

“But I was the one who drafted the master plan for this. The reason for bringing Swiss into it was because we needed to have a different country that would offer guarantee to both the insurgents and the government because previous talks crashed because there was lack of trust between the government and the insurgents.

“But now, we needed a country that would offer guarantee to both sides. Switzerland offered to assist after I had encountered fellows from some of the countries which we had contacted.

“Swiss offered to facilitate the negotiation and I linked them up to the negotiator and the master plan was for the government and the insurgents to negotiate.

“The agreement was reached through Mustapha Zanna and the Swiss offering the guarantee. RCRC was not part of the negotiation team. All they did was to ensure the implementation of the rescue of the girls.

“This is why you see some accusations and counter accusations between the government and the RCRC.”

Source: Daily Post