With more than three months since the abduction of  over 200 Chibok schoolgirls,  new twists and turns are emerging from the camps of their captors, Boko Haram. The latest is  the sect’s demand for the release of 70 of its members reportedly held in detention as a precondition to free the schoolgirls.
The demand was revealed through a lawyer said to be close to the insurgents, Hajiya Aisha Wakil. In a recent interview granted to an international cable network, Aljazeera, Aisha Wakil, who is fondly  called Mama Boko Haram, claimed that she was told by the leadership  of the armed group that the option of  prisoners  swap was the condition  it would consider before  the release of the abducted girls.
Although this is  not the  first time the terrorist group would make such awful demand on the Federal Government, we think their latest proposal needs to be looked into, not as means of capitulation to a terrorist gang, but as a veritable option that could see the eventual release, of the schoolgirls whose abduction has held the entire nation and the international community in a spell of trepidation. We believe  that no option should be  closed, no matter how hard it seems, in our efforts to free the girls.  The  safety of the schoolgirls and freedom should supercede everything else.
It is painful, indeed,  chilling that in spite of the international coalition of countries such as  the United States, Britain, France and Australia, no significant headway has been made to secure the release of the girls.
On the surface, it appears unreasonable to enter into any form of negotiation with terrorists who have wantonly killed innocent citizens, destroyed property and  almost made the North-East ungovernable. In that connection, the idea to swap the girls with Boko Haram detainees looks preposterous and unimaginable, to say the least, and could be seen as cheap blackmail and a legitimization of criminality. However, considering the lives of the abducted girls and the trauma their continued stay in captivity has brought upon their families and loved ones, no sacrifice will be too much to ensure their eventual release, sooner than later.
Inasmuch as the Federal Government has repeatedly maintained that it will not be dictated to  by terrorists, the proposal by the sect,  that its  members be given amnesty and a possible rehabilitation and be allowed to come back home, are options that  government should also explore in details. In such a testy situation, no stone should be left unturned, and no option should be foreclosed.
We recall that on many occasions, the government had shown good faith by initiating discussions with Boko Haram only for such initiatives to be truncated on flimsy grounds by the sect. The impression that has been created over time is that the demands of Boko Haram are inelastic and cannot be aggregated into concrete and tangible requests at any point. There seems to be vacillations, unseriousness and confusion among members of the group  that they keep shifting the goal post even after tentative agreements had been reached, thereby making the whole process look like a charade. Nonetheless, we think time is running thick and fast and the lives of the girls  could be in terrible harm’s way if nothing is done urgently to rescue them.
Also the Boko Haram leadership needs to  realise that earlier resolution of this crisis is of greater interest to them. Prolonging the impasse could push the government to the wall. Beyond this point, the administration may be compelled to resort to the use of maximum force with critical support from the international coalition of sympathizers.   All the same, the option of total war against the sect could have graver implications for the girls.
We, therefore, urge government to demonstrate enough goodwill in its resolve to bring to an end the Boko Haram terrorism in the country. Therefore, other crisis-management strategies have to be evolved. Swapping the Chibok girls with 70 terrorists should not be seen as an  admission of weakness and failure on the part of the country’s leadership. Emotions and sentiments apart, the swap option is worthy of consideration.

Chibok girls and the swap option