Jonathan initiated swapping of Chibok girls with Boko Haram – Ojougboh
Contrary to the statement credited to Ahmed Makarfi faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the deputy National Chairman of PDP, Cairo Ojougboh said that swapping Chibok girls with Boko Haram terrorists was initiated by former President Goodluck Jonathan.The party Caretaker Committee led by Makarfi, had in a statement by Prince Dayo Adeyeye on Sunday faulted the swapping of the 82 girls with the terrorists, saying the release of the insurgents was a setback for the war on insurgency.Makarfi had said that such development would emboldened the terrorists to continue with their tactics of kidnapping innocent Nigerians with the belief that they can always use it to blackmail the government to release their members and to extract other concessions.Addressing journalist on Monday, Ojougboh, who said that there was no price too much to pay for the freedom of the schoolgirls, abducted three years ago, stated that he was part of the Federal Government’s team that negotiated for the release of the Chibok girls in 2014.He added that the moves that culminated in the release of the girls started during Jonathan’s tenure.According to him, Jonathan apart from authorising the swap of some Boko Haram detainees with the girls, also set up a team to negotiate with the insurgents to secure the release of the girls, regretting that the swap deal was scuttled at the last minute.He said: “The effort and the battle to release the Chibok girls started a long time ago. In effect, sometimes in May 2014, a consultant of the World Bank visited Nigeria and approached Chief Edwin Clark that the Chibok girls were alive and they could be rescued.“Chief Clark made contact with the then President Goodluck Jonathan, and he authorised Chief Clark to nominate a trustworthy person to negotiate on behalf of the government for the release of the Chibok girls. I am proud today to tell you that I was the one who was nominated to negotiate the release of the Chibok girls.“The parties that were put together on behalf of the government of Nigeria are the following persons: the then Director of State Security Services (SSS), the then Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the President, and my humble self. We were to negotiate on behalf of the President
