[/color][color=#000000]
Australian hostage negotiator Stephen Davis who has
been widely described as a man hired by the
Nigerian government to negotiate with Boko Haram
in an effort to help free the Chibok girls, has allegedly
said he was not in Nigeria (for four months) at the
request of the federal government.

In an interview with Soni Daniel, which was
published on Vanguard today, Stephen allegedly said he was never engaged by the Nigerian government
to dialogue with the sect.

"I was not engaged by the Federal Government
of Nigeria, any state government or any other
party. I went to Nigeria in late April in an effort
to facilitate a handover of the Chibok captives
after discussing such a possibility with former
commanders of JAS (Jama’atu Ahlul Sunnah Lih Da’awa wal Jihad otherwise known as JAS) and
others close to Boko Haram. Why did you
release the report of your assignment to the
media instead of sending it to government? I did
not construct a report of my efforts in Nigeria.
As I said earlier, I was not engaged by any party and therefore had no obligation to report
to anyone." Continue...


Some Nigerians find it curious that you decided to give your report only to Arise TV, owned by a Nigerian, Nduka Obiagbena, who also owns Thisday Newspapers and may be sympathetic to some politicians in Nigeria.

""I gave a radio interview to the ABC in Australia
which subsequently told me that after the transcript
was posted to their online site, it had been picked up
in the UK and Sky News requested an interview. In
the hope of bringing attention to the many other girls
and boys kidnapped by Boko Haram, I agreed to a television interview. That interview took place in
Channel 7 studios in Australia and it was at that point
that I was told it was an interview with Arise TV. I
had not heard of Arise TV and did not know it was
owned by a Nigerian or indeed that it had any
association with Nigeria. At the time of giving the TV interview, I was of the understanding that it would
be broadcast by Sky News in the UK. On Mr
Obiagbena, I have not met him or ever been
contacted by him.

Many Nigerians find it extremely difficult to understand how the former Chief of the Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ihejirika, who actually fought Boko Haram elements and was accused of genocide could be linked with sponsoring the violent group.


"It is much easier to understand Mr Sheriff’s alleged
association with Boko Haram than any association of
Mr Ihejirika. Mr Sheriff was said to have a long history
of promoting groups to assist in his past efforts to win
the governorship of Borno State. On 29 July 2009,
there was a confrontation with security officers at Mamudo Village, along Potiskum/Damaturu Road,
Yobe. 33 JAS members were killed. Later that night,
there was a long battle with combined security
operatives at Railway Terminus, Maiduguri, Borno
State. Scores were killed and the JAS operational
base was destroyed. Yusuf was subsequently captured by the military and handed over to the
police.


The JAS alleged that it was on Sheriff’s orders that
Yusuf was executed in Maiduguri on 30 July 2009.
Shekau was presumed killed in the same battle and a
corpse was identified as that of Shekau. Thus the
remaining JAS leaders made it clear their intention
was to kill Sheriff and so it is right that Sheriff claims he is a victim of JAS. The Boko Haram we see today is
not the JAS that was operational under Yusuf. Shekau
emerged in mid-2010 and publicly claimed the
leadership of a reinvigorated JAS. Shekau formed
Ansaru which he used for kidnapping and beheading
victims.


This behaviour was a major departure from the
original mandate of the JAS which was to purify
Islam and return it to the behaviour example in the
life of the Prophet. Many among the JAS leadership
are no longer active and others have been killed. This
has allowed Shekau to take the JAS to more extreme action and expanded the kidnapping, bombing and
slaughtering.



The Boko Haram we have today is a much expanded
Ansaru. What we see now is not the Yusufiya which
wanted very much to settle scores with Sheriff. It is
Boko Haram as a partner to ISIS and Al Shabaab.
Now I will offer an opinion as to the motives of the
sponsors of Boko Haram.The political sponsors of Boko Haram seem to think that they can use Boko
Haram to terrorise Nigeria to demonstrate that the
current government cannot ensure the security of
Nigerian citizens both Muslim and Christian. Therein
the sponsors assume they can undermine any efforts
of the current government to be re-elected in 2015. Herein lies the flaw for the conflict and instability
currently being fanned suits the aims of Al Qa’eda
and the architects of terrorism.



Should the sponsors of Boko Haram win government
in 2015, they will likely find that they cannot turn
Boko Haram off or that Boko Haram will demand
control of at least Borno State in return for reducing
their attacks. Borno State may be just the beginning
of an expanding caliphate.

Several Boko Haram commanders and other persons
close to and respected by Boko Haram have told me
the names of some of the sponsors of Boko Haram.
They have also described how some funds are
transferred and arms made available. I have made
public some of that information. I have also been told by some commanders that if one of the sponsors is
arrested, they will surrender, release the girls and
give information on the sponsors.


Not all Boko Haram commanders will follow this lead
but it may be a firm step towards dismantling or at
least isolating Boko Haram.


Source : www.vanguardngr.com/2014/09/boko-haram-saga-negotiator-stephen-davis/