Dapchi: How We Led A Secret Negotiation To Secure Girls’ Release _ DSS Opens Up

The Department of State Services has revealed that the negotiation between the Federal Government and the insurgent group, Boko Haram, which led to the release of the Dapchi schoolgirls, was kept as classified as possible.

The Director General of the State Security Service (SSS), Lawal Daura made this known today in Abuja.

Mr. Daura recalled that the president had given “a clear directive to security agencies to use peaceful options to ensure the timely and safe release of the girls”.

He said what followed that directive was “intense behind-the-scene dialogue spearheaded by the Department of State Services”.

Mr. Daura said the insurgents’ only condition was their demands for cessation of hostilities and temporary ceasefire to enable them return the girls at the point they picked them.

He said they also required assurances that the government security forces would keep to that request.

“The exercise was arduous and quite challenging. The sensitivity of the operation and some uncertainties surrounding it, particularly routes to be used, nature of transportation, realization and concern that the girls were not kept at one place, issues of encountering military checkpoints within the theater and indeed keeping the operation on strictly the principle of need-to-know made the whole exercise more complicating,” he said.

The SSS chief said beyond the release of the abducted girls, the primary interest of the service for engaging in the dialogue was informed by the need for permanent, possible cessation of hostilities.

Other interests, he said, include discussing the fate of the arrested insurgents and innocent Nigerian citizens being held hostage and the possibility of granting amnesty to repentant insurgents.

He said these factors “presently seem problematic because the insurgents are factionalized while holding various spheres of influence in their guerrilla controlled enclaves”.

Mr. Daura said the “negative impact of social media on otherwise classified operations, and of course, some of the utterances of the government functionaries who were not competent to comment on the issues, posed challenges that almost marred the rescue efforts”.

He also said there was need to expand the current dialogue towards conflict mitigation and resolution, with a view to getting an everlasting peace for the entire sub-region.

Mr. Daura told President Buhari that apart from the girls, two additional young Primary School pupils namely; Hafsat Haruna, 11 years old primary six pupil and Mala Maina 13 years old also, a primary six pupil, were released and were in the gathering.

Mr. Daura said six more Dapchi girls “are yet to be accounted for, and dialogue on these students is still on-going”.