PROF AREMU:”Obasanjo Doesn’t Need Permission to Negotiate with B’Haram’”…

A University of Ibadan (UI) Professor of Counselling and Correctional Psychology, Oyesoji Aremu, has stated that former President Olusegun Obasanjo does not require approval from the Presidency to discuss with Boko Haram.
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Reacting to recent reports in the media on the former military leader’s supposedly non permission by government to dialogue for the release of the abducted Chibok girls with their abductors, the UI Deputy Director, Academics (Distance Learning Centre), said Obasanjo, as a father of the nation, has the locus standi to discussions with the terrorist sect and secure the girls.
He said the purported intervention by the former President should not be celebrated, saying he does not need to seek for permission to dialogue for the release of the innocent girls.
He said: “As a father of the nation and three-time president of this country, he has the locus standi and every right to intervene. He doesn’t need the permission of the Presidency to do so. And if he does, the Presidency would not have objected to it.
‘However, for him to succeed in his supposed quest to intervene, all efforts have to be made and that is in respect of his acceptance to Boko Haram. Would they accept him? Would they believe him? Can he facilitate the swapping of the girls with Boko Haram kingpins as demanded by the insurgents? Would the Presidency also trust him? He added.
Aremu added that beyond the intervention, the Federal Government should be more proactive and encourage the JTF and collaborate with foreign interests to come up with new ways to secure the release of the girls.
He described the abduction of the girls from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State on the night of April 14 as one of the embarrassing fallout of Boko Haram insurgency in the country.
He warned that the lingering delay to secure the release of the girls, whose numbers government cannot even ascertain, will portray the country as a failed state, saying such does not befit the image of Nigeria as a nation.