Who is Stephen Davis? The government should
address the serious allegations
Australian negotiator, Dr. Stephen Davies, who
alleged that he was engaged by President
Goodluck Jonathan to dialogue with Boko
Haram for the release of the abducted Chibok
school girls recently mentioned some highly
placed Nigerians as sponsors of the Islamic
militant sect. In a series of interviews both in
his homeland and with some international
networks in London, Davis has specifically
accused the former governor of Borno State, Ali
Modu Sheriff, and immediate past Chief of Army
Staff, Lt. Gen. Ihejirika (rtd) of funding Boko
Haram. An unnamed former top official of the
Central Bank of Nigeria has also been fingered
by him as providing funds and other logistics
for the sect.
Quite naturally, the allegations by Davis have
excited many Nigerians while the people he
accused of duplicity have been defending
themselves and making counter-allegations.
Who really is Davis? "It was at Shell in the mid
2000s that he began peace negotiations with
rebels in the Niger Delta. He then served as an
advisor to two Nigerian presidents, developing
links with terror cells as he negotiated on behalf
of the government", the widely-read Australian
daily, The Sydney Morning Herald said of him.
Before we go into the allegations Davis raised,
there are some pertinent questions that beg for
answers. One, the claims by Davis who
obviously knows how to work the media were
based largely on what he said some Boko
Haram commanders told him. The question
arising from that is: Why would Boko Haram
leaders tell someone negotiating with them on
behalf of the government the names of their
sponsors? There is also the issue of motive.
Davis has been granting several interviews that
border on an orchestrated campaign to achieve
an objective. Why would the negotiator for
federal government be all over the place?
We ask those questions because of the timing
of his intervention, the slant of his narratives
and the implications for the ongoing war on
terror. It also should not escape the attention of
Nigerians that at a political season like this,
nothing should be taken at face value. Besides,
at a time Boko Haram insurgents are fighting
for the control of some major towns in Borno
and Yobe states, and when hundreds of
thousands of our citizens are being displaced,
the last thing we need is a distraction that
could take the attention of Nigerians from the
real challenge that the insurgency poses to our
national survival.
Notwithstanding our misgivings, Davis has
made some serious allegations that need to be
fully addressed and the situation is not helped
by the fact that officials of the federal
government who are ever quick to jump into the
fray on matters like this have suddenly lost
their voices. Of course both Sheriff and Ihejirika
have dismissed his claims but they are really
not the issue, it is the government that
allegedly hired Davis that needs to come clean
on several issues.
For instance, without being categorical, Davis
has hinted that the federal government may
have given up on the idea of rescuing the
Chibok girls who have been in captivity for
almost 150 days now. His account of a
bungled effort does not depict any sign of
seriousness on the part of the federal
government and Nigerians would need
reassurance that concerted efforts are indeed
being made to rescue the girls. Again, the
allegations against some prominent Nigerians,
including an official of CBN, need to be probed.
Beyond all these, there is need for clarification
on what exactly Davis role is/was. More than
at any period in our history, Nigerians need to
be reassured that their government is working
for them, and that notwithstanding the cold
calculations for the 2015 general elections,
concerted efforts are still being made to defeat
the Boko Haram insurgency.


http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/confessions-of-the-boko-haram-negotiator-/188449/

Not this again