My Boko Haram Saga, By Negotiator Stephen Davis

According to a Vanguard correspondent who interviewed Dr. Stephen
Davis, he first met him (Dr. Davis) at the American Centre for
Strategic and International Studies, Washington, in June 2009.

At that time, the Australian was assisting the Federal Government of
Nigeria to broker peace with the irate Niger Delta militants, who had
taken up arms against the administration and almost rendered its
oil-dependent economy comatose through oil theft, destruction of
facilities and kidnapping of oil workers.

They lost contact until he got to know that Davis had been involved in
the effort to free the Chibok girls. Some other reports claimed he was
hired by government to negotiate with Boko Haram.

However, in this interview, Davies makes it clear he was never engaged
by the Nigerian government to dialogue with the sect.

Excerpts of the interview.

What do you have to show that you were engaged by the Nigerian
government to negotiate with Boko Haram?

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.

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.