Two leading United Kingdom experts on terrorism have warned the
Nigerian government against negotiating with the extreme fundamanetalist
Islamic sect, Boko Haram.
The Punch reports that two security experts, Dr. Afzal Ashraf and
Richard Barrett in two separate emails cautioned the President Muhammadu
Buhari administration, which might be open to negotiation with the
leadership of the terror group.
Ashraf, who is a consultant at the Royal United Services Institute
for Defence, stressed that it was not advisable to negotiate with
ideological terrorists. According to him, non-ideological terrorists
respond positively to negotiations.
He said: “For example, the IRA in the UK gave up violence only
after long secret negotiations with the British government. Boko Haram
is not really ideological, even though it claims to follow Al-Qaeda and
now ISIS. Its leadership is anti-intellectual given its name. They do
not have even the pseudo-Islamic scholars that Al-Qaeda had in the form
of Ayman Al Zawahiri and Abu Yayah Al Libbi. Therefore, they are not
likely to respond to pragmatic political negotiations.”
Barrett, who is a Director of the Qatar International Academy for
Security Studies in Doha, shared the opinion of his colleague stating
that it was wrong to negotiate with terrorists. However, he stressed
that the federal government should try to rescue those people who had
been abducted by Boko Haram, especially the Chibok schoolgirls."
‘‘It is always wrong to negotiate with terrorists, but
everything should be done to free all those kidnapped by Boko Haram,
including the Chibok girls. The government will find it hard to trust
any agreement made by Boko Haram, and it will need to ensure that any
negotiation does not provide the group with the means to get more
weapons and continue its rampage of terrorism, for example, by giving it
money. A deal should be more in line with an offer of reduced prison
sentences for those responsible if the captives are returned safely to
their families.’"