A former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has commenced efforts to reach out to the extremist Boko Haram sect, in a series of attempts at negotiating with the sect to free over 250 school girls it abducted more than a month ago from Chibok, in Borno State. A source close to the former leader said on Tuesday that Mr. Obasanjo has contacted a go-between, who assisted him in his unsuccessful attempt at mediating with the Boko Haram group in 2011.
The go-between, a lawyer, was led by a prominent civil rights activist, Shehu Sani, to meet with Mr. Obasanjo weekend in his Otta farm in an “exploratory” effort, our source said. Mr. Obasanjo’s 2011 attempt at negotiations with the deadly sect ended on a bloody note with the murder of Babakura Fugu, the man who received him and made effort to establish a link between Boko Haram and the former president.
