Chibok Girls: Nigeria Army Responds To Boko Haram’s Request
Lt. Gen. Abayomi Olonishakin, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), speaks to the press[/caption]
The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Lt. Gen. Abayomi Olonishakin, has responded to the request made by the Boko Haram sect to release their men who are in the custody of the federal government in exchange of Chibok Girls.
The sects request was conveyed in a new video it released on Sunday showing some of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls.
Speaking with reporters after a meeting of top security chiefs at the State House in Abuja yesterday, which was neither attended by the president or the vice-president, the CDS said that the decision to swap Boko Haram fighters for the Chibok girls was a ‘political decision’ that was beyond the powers the army had.
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“That is a political decision to be taken. The decision is that we are going ahead with our operations and the operations are being conducted appropriately,” the CDS said.
Also speaking, the Controller General of Customs, Hammeed Ali said: “It was not a meeting as such, but a little workshop that was arranged for us to understand how to respond to emergency issues, and how to be in a position to advise the president to take the right decisions during emergency situations, either in the event of terrorism, flooding or any other thing.
“It was put together for chief executives to sit down and understand the process of taking decisions when there is disaster. We plan to put what we have learnt today to use.
“We are facing terrorism and we have disasters. There is information going round now that some states are going to witness floods. We never can tell when disasters will happen. We must be ready to be able to counter whatever happens.”
