faced in trying to rescue the Chibok girls
International adviser,
Stephen Davis, An international adviser from Australia has opened up
on his dangerous 4-month stay in Nigeria.
63-year-oldStephen Davishas worked for 2 Nigerian presidents and
established extensive contact with terrorist groups in Africa.
According to him, when he found out about the Chibok girls' abduction,
he made a decision to help.
That decision almost cost him his life.
Davis said:
"When confronted by groups with an AK-47 in my face they'd say, 'you
are American, we have to kill you',".
"When you say, no I'm not American, they think you are British, and
say you will still die, but when I said I'm Australian, they said
that's all right.
"I have no idea why but it's certainly been helpful."
"I made a few phone calls to the Boko Haram commanders and they
confirmed they were in possession of the girls," he said.
"They told me they'd be prepared to release some as a goodwill gesture
towards a peace deal with the government, so I went to Nigeria on the
basis of being able to secure their release."
"The girls were there, 60 girls, there were 20 vehicles with girls," he said.
"We travelled for four-and-a-half hours to reach them, but 15 minutes
before we arrived they were kidnapped again by another group who
wanted to cash in on a reward.
"The police had offered a reward of several million Naira just 24
hours before we went to pick them up.
"I understand, from the Boko Haram commanders I spoke to, the girls
eventually ended up back with them.
I don't know what happened to the group that took them but I suspect
it wasn't good."
"It became very clear that if I was able to get 50 girls released then
another group would kidnap 70 or 80 more," he said.
"So by freeing 50 you were consigning 70 or 80 more to the same fate."
"Boko Haram used to telephone Nigerian journalists and give them a
story, but that doesn't happen anymore,"
"They go straight to social media. They post their own material and
they've learnt to become very savvy on social media and use it as an
instrument to terrorize."
Dr. Davis added that the only way to stop Boko Haram is to cut off
their funding, which according to him is majorly gotten from bank
raids and Nigerian politicians.
"That makes it easier in some ways as they can be arrested, but of
course the onus of proof is high and many are in opposition, so if the
president moves against them, he would be accused of trying to rig the
elections due early next year," he said.
"So I think this will run through to the election unabated.
"These politicians think that if they win power they can turn these
terrorists off, but this has mutated.
"It's no longer a case of Muslims purifying by killing off Christians.
They are just killing indiscriminately, beheading, disembowelling
people - men, women and children and whole villages.
The over 200 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram on April 14 have still not
been found.
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