Nigeria admits failed Chibok schoolgirls swap deal – New Boko Haram video threatens to kill Nigeria’s president

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This file photo taken on Aug 14, 2016 shows a video grab image. Nigeria opened negotiations with Boko Haram over the release of the kidnapped Chibok girls last year, but the talks were derailed due to a split in the extremist group, a minister said on Sept 16. (AFP)
This file photo taken on Aug 14, 2016 shows a video grab image. Nigeria opened negotiations with Boko Haram over the release of the kidnapped Chibok girls last year, but the talks were derailed due to a split in the extremist group, a minister said on Sept 16. (AFP)

ABUJA, Sept 17, (Agencies): Nigeria opened negotiations with Boko Haram over the release of the kidnapped Chibok girls last year, but the talks were derailed due to a split in the extremist group, a minister said Friday. Speaking at a press conference in the capital Abuja, information minister Lai Mohammed said the Department of State Services (DSS) started negotiations with the Islamists in July 2015.

In exchange for the girls, who were kidnapped in April 2014 from a school in the remote northeastern town of Chibok, Boko Haram demanded the release of some of its fighters.

Out of the 276 girls kidnapped, scores escaped in the hours after the kidnapping, while another was rescued earlier this year. Mohammed said that by August 2015 the government was close to clinching the swap deal when Boko Haram issued a new set of demands.

“This development stalled what would have been the first release process of the Chibok girls,” Mohammed said. Meanwhile, a new video by Boko Haram threatens to kill Nigeria’s president and army chief and warns of further destruction, though the Islamic extremists have not mounted a major attack in Nigeria in months. A preacher in the video says Boko Haram is “even stronger now” and “will destroy what we never destroyed before,” according to a translation from the Hausa by Premium Times newspaper

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