CHIBOK GIRLS / BOKO HARAM PRISONERS SWAP, GREENLIGHTED?

Icheoku says the Nigerian government of President Goodluck Jonathan has received the political cover and green-light needed to proceed with the rumoured Boko Haram prisoners exchange for those Chibok girls. Icheoku says if America can do it why not Nigeria? Icheoku says if Israel can do it and repeatedly too, why not Nigeria? Icheoku says the Chibok abduction scandal has become such a distraction that anything is good enough that will help resolve it, including trading in every detained Boko Haram terrorist for the release of those girls and thus bring closure to the festering debacle. 

The United States of America, despite its age long principle of not negotiating with terrorists just negotiated with terrorists and you ask yourself if America can cash in on an opened window of opportunity to secure the release of one of their soldiers, what's the big deal if Nigeria follows in tandem? It is on record too that America released the "hardest of the hardcore terrorists" in exchange for the release of a knee-jerk army deserter, who purposely delivered himself to be captured by the Talibans just to protest the war? So if Nigeria releases those Boko Haram foot soldiers in their custody for the return of those girls to their families, Icheoku does not see anything outlandish or outrageous with such action and is certain that Nigeria will not be chastised by the West for simply following their example. 

The good news also is that Boko Haram is not demanding a king's ransom for the number of girls they are willing and ready to release - they are only demanding 100 of their men for 50 Chibok girls, which translates to a 2:1 trade ratio. Unlike the Americans' 5:1 trade ratio, who traded 5 Taliban Guantanamo Bay prisoners for just 1 American soldier, Bowe Bergdahl; and the Israelis' 1000:1 ratio, who traded 1000 Palestine "terrorists" for just 1 soldier, Gilad Shalit, the Nigerian Boko Haram offer at 2:1 ratio seems rather very reasonable in the circumstance. It is indeed a mouth watering deal that does not need any second thoughts before the president's signature meets the paper of the contract. Icheoku says President Jonathan should therefore, instead of all these grandstanding being put up just for show, ask Boko Haram representatives to show him where they want him to sign to seal the deal. It is a deal to kill for and it cannot be any better and therefore should be accepted by the Nigerian government which would be getting 50 Chibok girls for ordinary 100 Boko Haram terrorists whose lives are as good as spent anyway. The derivative lesson being that next time, instead of taking such terrorists prisoners, their summarily executions on the battlefields, like their erstwhile leader Mohammed Yusuf, would be the preferred option? 

Icheoku adds that President Jonathan should find strength in the fact that he would not be the first nor would he be the last leader or president to ever negotiate with terrorists? In addition to President Barack Obama and Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, his predecessor President Umaru Yar"Adua also negotiated with the then Niger Delta terrorists, which led to the relative peace presently being enjoyed in the restive Niger Delta region. However Icheoku condemns the American terrorist swap as setting a bad precedent especially for a great country that has come to be known as being tough on terrorists and who hitherto does not negotiate with such tin-head terrorists, hence the moniker, the cowboy country. President Obama has set a bad example with the Taliban prisoners swap as it has now exposed us more to the vagaries of a troubled world. Imagine the target pool of Americans now at the disposal of terrorists all over the world and henceforth, they will be choosing and picking their victims depending on who will yield the most dividend? Anyway, Icheoku calls on President Jonathan to be like President Obama and bring home those Chibok girls.