Australian negotiator, Davis, Reveals More About Boko Haram

Australian negotiator, Davis, who has been a middleman between the leadership of the Boko Haram sect and the Nigerian Government, has pleaded with the group to see the death of their leader as an avenue to put an end to their operations in Nigeria.

[caption id="attachment_3972" align="aligncenter" width="412"] Australian negotiator, Dr. Stephen Davis, and Boko Haram commanders in 2013 after BH reportedly agreed to dialogue[/caption]

Davis who made this known in an interview according to Punch has advised Boko Haram members to release the kidnapped Chibok girls, and also return to being normal human beings, living a normal, terrorist-free live. He also revealed that the Boko Haram group has used more than one ‘fake Shekau’.

READ ALSO: Nigerians Speak On Shekau

In the interview, he made it known that none of the people mentioned as Boko Haram sponsors were in anyway corroborated by any political party and that no political party has also been pointed at by Boko Haram to be a fueling source for the group.

Below are excerpts from the interview:

A senior member of the European Parliament, Franz Obermayr, alleged that the opposition party in Nigeria could be sponsoring Boko Haram by channeling European Parliament financial aid to Boko Haram in the North East of Nigeria. Do you have any such evidence?

I have never heard any political party mentioned by any Boko Haram leader as funding or being associated with Boko Haram.

The Boko Haram commanders have only mentioned individuals like former Governor Sheriff. I heard Sheriff was APC and now PDP but that is irrelevant to me.

I have never mentioned political parties in my discussions with Boko Haram. The names of individual sponsors were given by Boko Haram leaders, not their political party association.

What sort of sponsorship has been mentioned by Boko Haram that they have received?

Former governor Sheriff was specifically mentioned many times. Specifically for example, Sheriff was mentioned as sponsoring trips of the boys to the Lesser Hajj. There, the boys are “reorientated”.

In effect they are recruited to Boko Haram. When they return to Nigeria the recruits are then taken off for further reorientation by which they mean teaching and for training. Some of the training took place in Mali by Tuareg leaders but now more training is conducted locally.

Could mere funding for Lesser Hajj by the assumed sponsors have manifested in the high level of sophistication that the sect has assumed today?

Funds are provided to purchase weapons. This is sometimes transferred through the Central Bank of Nigeria to a person in Cairo who provides the weapons and also provides military uniforms.

At other times vehicles are purchased in Benin for example and driven into Nigeria where they are sold for cash. They do not mind taking a loss on the sale price as by this method they can obtain cash in Nigeria without a direct link to the sponsor.

This person in Cairo, is he an Egyptian? Why are you not able to disclose his identity to the security agents for necessary action?

No, he is Nigerian. He is a Kanuri who has fought with Boko Haram and now associates with a network of jihadists. I have given all his details to the DG-SSS.

What sort of vehicles do they purchase?

VW Golf was mentioned as a favourite. They can sell these very easily in Nigeria. They do keep some to use for suicide bombing. Some time ago they told me one sponsor pledged six Hilux vehicles for the suicide bombers.

You have heard that a “fake” Shekau was killed last week in Kondunga. Do you believe what the military is claiming that the man killed was Shekau or possibly a “fake” Shekau?

I continue to believe that Shekau was killed on or about June 19, 2013 when we were deeply engaged in peace discussions. I have had so many senior commanders tell me that Shekau is dead. It was several weeks after that a Shekau video appeared on YouTube. When I viewed that video with JAS leaders they immediately said, “That boy.

We have used him before.” They were totally dismissive of any claim that Shekau was still alive. They referred to the person in the video as the “fake Shekau”. Some months later one of the senior commanders told me the name of the fake Shekau was Abdul Mutallif. The commander who named him was the one who wrote the script that the fake Shekau reads from in the videos.

But I have heard they have used more than one fake Shekau. In July this year I was told the fake Shekau is Isa Damasaka. Earlier in June they referred to him as Bashir.

We had been in communication with him over the release of the Chibok girls. Isa Damasaka is one of the names the military has released when identifying the man killed at Kondunga last week. He has also been identified as Bashir Mohammed so I am confident this man is indeed the fake Shekau.

However, I do not know if Abdul Mutallif is another name he used or there is another fake Shekau named Abdul Mutallif who may still be alive. I have no doubt we will know soon so we await a new video by another fake Shekau.

The man who was captured at Kondunga last week was a great source of information about Boko Haram sponsors. He was captured alive. The military are too quick to execute captured Boko Haram leaders. This man could have revealed so much about Boko Haram and its sponsors that may have brought a quick end to the terrorism.

There are some reports that many Boko Haram fighters have surrendered in recent days. You want to say something on this?
This is an indication that Boko Haram commanders now understand that they have been fooled. They have followed a “fake” Shekau. Boko Haram fighters have died following a fake Shekau and fake teaching.

READ ALSO: What I Know About Australian Negotiator – Asari Dokubo Opens Up

The political sponsors have led these boys to believe that they are purifying Islam, purging the country of corruption by slaughtering people. In fact the political sponsors of Boko Haram are corrupt politicians seeking power and more wealth. The sponsors epitomise all that the Boko Haram fighters are seeking to eliminate from Nigeria.

So what is next for Boko Haram?

The death of the fake Shekau shows how the fighters have been duped and totally misled by the sponsors.

The fighters and commanders would be wise to take this opportunity to reach out to the government for a peace dialogue.

If they do not believe they can have a peace dialogue without being captured and executed the alternative message I have for the commanders is this: Your sponsors will use you and sacrifice you so they can gain power. Set the captive girls free and walk away from Boko Haram while you still have the opportunity.

Meanwhile, 50 Boko Haram members were arrested while trying to move from Damboa area of Bornu state to Gombe in a goat truck earlier this week.

Read More

I Know Davis, I Worked With Him Under FG – Soyinka

[caption id="attachment_1657" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Stephen Davis with MEND, including Asari Dokubo[/caption]

Nobel  Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has in a new piece called Wages of Impunity, described Stephen Davis as a federal government negotiator and they worked together when negotiating with  the Nigeria Delta militants under Late President Umaru Musa Yaar’adua’s administration.

The well known and respected author wrote:

While await, the Chibok girls, and in that very connection, there is at least an individual whom the nation needs to bring back, and urgently. His name is Stephen Davis, the erstwhile negotiator in the oft aborted efforts to actually bring back the girls. Nigeria needs him back – no, not back to the physical nation space itself, but to a Nigerian induced forum, convoked anywhere that will guarantee his safety and can bring others to join him. I know Stephen Davis, I worked in the background with him during efforts to resolve the insurrection in the Delta region under President Umaru Yar’Adua. I have not been involved in his recent labours for a number of reasons.
The most basic is that my threshold for confronting evil across a table is not as high as his – thanks, perhaps, to his priestly calling. From the very outset, in several lectures and other public statements, I have advocated one response and one response only to the earliest, still putative depredations of Boko Haram and have decried any proceeding that smacked of appeasement. There was a time to act – several times when firm, decisive action, was indicated. There are certain steps which, when taken, place an aggressor beyond the pale of humanity, when we must learn to accept that not all who walk on two legs belong to the community of humans – I view Boko Haram in that light.It is no comfort to watch events demonstrate again and again that one is proved to be right.

READ ALSO: Don’t Expect A Perfect Nigeria – General Yakubu Gowon

Thus, it would be inaccurate to say that I have been detached from the Boko Haram affliction – very much the contrary. As I revealed in earlier statements, I have interacted with the late National Security Adviser, General Azazi, on occasion – among others. I am therefore compelled to warn that anything that Stephen Davis claims to have uncovered cannot be dismissed out of hand.
It cannot be wished away by foul-mouthed abuse and cheap attempts to impugn his integrity – that is an absolute waste of time and effort. Of the complicity of ex-Governor Sheriff in the parturition of Boko Haram, I have no doubt whatsoever, and I believe that the evidence is overwhelming. Femi Falana can safely assume that he has my full backing – and that of a number of civic organizations – if he is compelled to go ahead and invoke the legal recourses available to him to force Sheriff’s prosecution. The evidence in possession of Security Agencies – plus a number of diplomats in Nigeria – is overwhelming, and all that is left is to let the man face criminal persecution. It is certain he will also take many others down with him.

READ ALSO: Soyinka Reveals How He Almost Killed Himself At 10

Regarding General Ihejirika, I have my own theories regarding how he may have come under Stephen Davis’ searchlight in the first place, ending up on his list of the inculpated. All I shall propose at this stage is that an international panel be set up to examine all allegations, irrespective of status or office of any accused. The unleashing of a viperous cult like Boko Haram on peaceful citizens qualifies as a crime against humanity, and deserves that very dimension in its resolution. If a people must survive, the reign of impunity must end. Truth – in all available detail – is in the interest, not only of Nigeria, the sub-region and the continent, but of the international community whose aid we so belatedly moved to seek.

READ ALSO: Nigeria Should Stay United – US Consul General

From very early beginnings, we warned against the mouthing of empty pride to stem a tide that was assuredly moving to inundate the nation but were dismissed as alarmists. We warned that the nation had moved into a state of war, and that its people must be mobilized accordingly – the warnings were disregarded, even as slaughter surmounted slaughter, entire communities wiped out, and the battle began to strike into the very heart of governance, but all we obtained in return was moaning, whining and hand-wringing up and down the rungs of leadership and governance. But enough of recriminations – at least for now. Later, there must be full accounting.

Finally, Stephen Davis also mentions a Boko Haram financier within the Nigerian Central Bank. Independently we are able to give backing to that claim, even to the extent of naming the individual. In the process of our enquiries, we solicited the help of a foreign embassy whose government, we learnt, was actually on the same trail, thanks to its independent investigation into some money laundering that involved the Central Bank. That name, we confidently learnt, has also been passed on to President Jonathan. When he is ready to abandon his accommodating policy towards the implicated, even the criminalized, an attitude that owes so much to re-election desperation, when he moves from a passive “letting the law to take its course” to galvanizing the law to take its course, we shall gladly supply that name.

Read More