No Prisoner Swap For Abducted Chibok School Girls, Jonathan Insists #BringBackOurGirls

By Abang Mercy

President Goodluck Jonathan has ruled out freeing Boko Haram prisoners in exchange for the release of more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls, British minister Mark Simmonds said on Wednesday.

Simmonds who is in Nigeria for talks about the international rescue mission, said he raised the issue with President Jonathan during a meeting in at the Presidential Villa Abuja.

“I did discuss this with the president and he made it very clear that there will be no negotiation with Boko Haram that involves a swap of abducted schoolgirls for prisoners,” he told reporters at the UK ambassador’s residence in Abuja.

He said the UK has a long standing relationship with Nigeria and the government is committed to assist the nigerian Military to ensure the abducted girls are released but noted that it is unlikely that the UK combat troops will be deployed.

He however maintained that the priority is for the small UK team presently in Nigeria to analyze and establish where the girls are and find them using the the Radar aircrafts that detects objects that has been provided.