Blueprint Newspapers reporter, Ahmad Salkida has denied being part of any mediation committee engaging in negotiation of a ceasefire between the Federal Government of Nigeria and Boko Haram sect.

Salkida has extensively covered the rise of the sect more than any practicing journalist in Nigeria. He narrowly missed being killed in 2009 when the sect clashed with Nigerian security forces, leading to the killings of Mohammed Yusuf, the sect's founder. Salkida was also arrested, but on all account, he maintained that he was only doing his professional duty as a journalist/writer.

In a statement today, the Blueprint Newspapers correspondent in Abuja, who was once a journalist in Maiduguri, the flashpoint of the Boko Haram insurgency, Salkida said that though he maintained professional contact with the sect, he has not in any way been involved in any form of communication between the two warring sides.

The full statement reads:

“In the past few days a deluge of phone calls from individuals claiming to be media reporters requesting information “on my involvement with the Federal Government’s negotiation with the Jama’atu Ahl-Sunnati Lil Da’awati Wal Jihad otherwise known as Boko Haram Islamist sect.” More surprisingly, newspaper publication went as far as reporting that I was involved in an imagined negotiation allegedly between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the ‘Boko Haram’ sect. It has become extremely imperative, on account of these developments to make public my position. As a practicing journalist, I had opened and maintained invaluable professional contacts with the leadership of the sect. I have on the basis of this professional position reported, often exclusively, sensitive insights on the operations of the sect. I still maintain valuable professional line of communication with the sect.

“I have keenly followed insinuations in the media about planned or on-going dialogue between the Federal Government and the sect. It is my personal prayer that whatever machinery that that needs to be deployed to end the apparent and depressing war situation in Nigeria accomplishes immediate and effective peace. Nevertheless, at personal or official level I have not been approached neither by the Federal Government, its agents nor the Boko Haram sect respect of any negotiation or dialogue and do not hesitate to declare that I am not part of any imagined at any level.

“As a patriotic, professional and concerned Nigeria, I will not hesitate to consider it should the government seek to benefit from my insight but let it be known that as at now, no such engagement involving me is in place yet.

Thank you.”source:www.saharareporters.com