11-18 September 2015

1. Negotiations with Boko Haram

State-Run Media

FG Must Release Insurgents in Exchange for Chibok Girls – Sani - Daily Independent, Lagos-based Daily, 18 September 2015

• Senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Shehu Sani said on Thursday that dialogue with the Boko Haram group was necessary to bring about permanent end to insurgency in the country.
• The senator said that dialogue and what he described as the ‘peoples’ war’ were effective strategies needed to successfully win the war against insurgency
• “Negotiations require the government to be ready to make concessions by releasing some of the insurgents in return for the Chibok girls and other persons kept in captivity.” – Sani

Privately Owned Media

Chibok Girls: FG Has Opened Negotiations with Boko Haram – Buhari - Vanguard, Lagos-based Daily, 15 September 2015

• President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday in France stated that his government has kicked off negotiations with Boko Haram to secure the release of over 200 Chibok girls
• He disclosed that the government was making frantic effort to determine the genuine leaders of the group
• One of Boko Haram’s terms of negotiation is the release of an important player, who specializes in IED weaponry, thus complicating the talks

Social Media

Will Ross (@willintune): BBC Correspondent Nigeria (16 September 2015)

• "Reports in Nigeria’s local media that government is in talks with Boko Haram over Chibok girls. Digging deeper to find out”
• “Pres Buhari’s spokesman Garba Shehu says no direct talks with Boko Haram over Chibok Girls release. Indirect negotiations.”

2. Countering Boko Haram

Privately Owned Media

Troops Arrest More Boko Haram Food Suppliers - Daily Trust, Abuja-based Daily, 17 September 2015

• A statement yesterday by army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman said: “intensive patrols and vigilance of troops have continued to yield positive results with the arrest of 33 suspected food suppliers to the Boko Haram Terrorists in Damboa axis around Azir-Wajiroko road, Borno State.”
• He said interrogation is still ongoing to further unravel the level of involvement of the suspects.
• Usman also said troops during clearance operations of Boko Haram hideouts, have discovered and successfully destroyed  Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) planted by the terrorists at Sandia village along Korode road

Troops Capture 200 Boko Haram Fighters in Adamawa - Punch, Privately-owned Daily, 16 September 2015

• Nigerian Army captured and de-radicalised over 200 Boko Haram members in Adamawa, says Brig.-Gen. V O Ezugwu, Commander Task Force Brigade, Mubi (More details were not yet available)

3. IDP Crisis

Privately Owned Media

Mosque Donates to IDP Relief Fund - Daily Trust, Abuja-based Daily, 17 September 2015

• The Ihya’us-Sunnah mosque in Sokoto State has donated clothing materials to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) relief fund recently instituted by Daily Trust
• He said Islam enjoins Muslims to assist their brothers and adherents of other religious in need of assistance

Cholera Kills 16 at Boko Haram Displaced Camps in NE Nigeria - Guardian, Lagos-based Daily, 16 September 2015

• Sixteen people have died in a cholera outbreak at three camps for those made homeless by Boko Haram violence in northeast Nigeria, the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Wednesday
• The official count of 16 September recorded 172 cholera cases and 16 deaths
• The living and hygienic conditions in the camps were and remain ripe for the outbreak of this type of epidemic
• Nigeria’s main relief agency the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said only that there had been “one or two cases” in one camp and the outbreak had been “contained”