Borno State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Zannah Umar Mustapha has Sunday described the speculated pleas by the Boko Haram in the media to negotiate with the Federal Government as an accepted welcome idea, on the condition that the Islamist militants be fully “committed to laying down their arms for peace” in the North East sub-region of Nigeria.
Mustapha set the conditions for negotiations yesterday to newsmen in Yola, the Adamawa state capital, while returning from the Burnt Bricks of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp that accommodates over 3, 000 returning Borno indigenes from Cameroon Republic.
Mustapha, who was accompanied by the Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Sani Sidi to Mubi, said that he also heard and learnt of the speculated pleas in the media by Boko Haram for negotiations with federal government.
His words: “I heard and read from the media of the said pleas for negotiations by the insurgents, but sincerely speaking I do not know its source; no authenticity of the speculation. The insurgents are tired and they want true and sincere negotiations, it is left to the Federal Government to accept or reject their advances, depending on
the genuineness of their approach to this incessant insane massive killings and bombings in Nigeria including schools, markets and hospitals.”
Mustapha; while addressing the returnees camped in Mubi South said that 3, 488 have so far returned to Nigeria via Mubi a border town to Cameroon.
He said they had been refugees in Cameroon after the the Boko Haram attacks in Gambouru and Ngala communities of Borno state.
“The Borno state government will identify with the plights of these returnees,” pledged Mustapha, adding that the returning refugees would be evacuated from Adamawa after they must have been thoroughly screened by Immigration and Military personnel at the Sahuda entry border post.
He said meanwhile; they would be temporarily camped at Fufure and Malkohi designated camps in Adamawa State where they would be searched and screened by security agencies.
