Abuja - Nigeria aims to have secured
the release of 200 girls kidnapped by
Islamist Boko Haram militants by
Tuesday, a senior source at the
presidency told Reuters on Saturday,
although he declined to comment on where the transfer would take place. "I can confirm that FG (the federal
government) is working hard to meet
its own part of the agreement so that
the release of the abductees can by
effected either on Monday or latest
Tuesday next week," the source told Reuters by telephone. The head of Nigeria's military, Air Chief
Marshal Alex Badeh, announced on
Friday that authorities had reached a
deal with Boko Haram for a ceasefire
that would enable the release of the
girls, who were kidnapped while taking exams in a secondary school
from the remote northeastern town of
Chibok in April. Officials at the presidency and the
military did not immediately respond
to a request for comment. Boko Haram, which conveys messages
in videotaped speeches by a man
claiming to be its leader, Abubakar
Shekau, has also not yet commented
on the ceasefire. Some Nigerians are likely to greet
claims of a ceasefire with scepticism
after five years of violence. Since the
girls' abduction, Nigeria's military has
twice claimed to have rescued some or
all of the girls, only to back-track hours later. Several rounds of negotiations with
Boko Haram have been attempted in
recent years but they have never
achieved a peace deal, partly because
the group has several different
factions. The group, whose name translates
roughly as "Western education is
sinful" has killed thousands of people
in its struggle to carve an Islamic state
out of religiously mixed Nigeria. - Reuters.com

Please let it happen!!!