Terrorists Seek Government Dialogue Over 50 Borno Captives

By Opeyemi Adelakun

Suspected Boko Haram and ISWAP insurgents have reportedly indicated a willingness to negotiate with the Federal Government over the release of more than 50 people being held captive in Borno State.

The proposed negotiations, according to relatives of some of the victims, do not include the 78 schoolchildren abducted in separate attacks on schools in Askira/Uba Local Government Area between May and June.

Family members of the abductees said the insurgents requested that any engagement with the government should be conducted through a journalist they had selected as a mediator.

Among those believed to be in captivity are 16 travellers kidnapped along the Biu-Buratai Road in April while travelling to Maiduguri.

The spokesperson for the affected families, Hassan Yati, said the abductors had previously sent proof-of-life photographs and voice recordings, confirming that the victims were still alive.

According to him, the group also disclosed that more than 50 people are currently being held in captivity.

“Government should reach out to them through a journalist mediator they have chosen, whose name I am withholding,” Yati said.

He explained that the families were prepared to provide all information received from the abductors if approached by the authorities.

“If the government reaches out to us, we will link them up with the journalist, and they can pick it up from there,” he added.

Yati said the insurgents had not ruled out further discussions on their demands, stressing that any eventual resolution would not necessarily depend on the payment of ransom.

“It does not have to be ransom, like the case of Oyo. The government has the cards,” he said.

He appealed to both the federal and Borno State governments to urgently intervene, saying families of the victims had endured months of uncertainty and emotional trauma.

The 16 travellers abducted in April reportedly included a seven-month-old baby and the child’s mother, a pregnant woman travelling with her three-year-old child, a married couple, recent graduates, students and two siblings who were travelling in the boot of the vehicle after they could not afford transport fares.