Controversial negotiator, Dr. Stephen Davis, has accused opposition politicians of hindering the freedom and release of the Chibok schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram in April this year.

Further to the delayed release of the girls and the reasons for it, he warned that if the girls are set free without the leaders of Boko Haram either reined in or their sponsors stopped, Nigeria should expect an endless orgy of abductions by the same group in future.

In an interview he granted a UK news network, Channel 4, few days ago Davis stated: “The Nigerian opposition politicians sponsoring Boko Haram have to be stopped if hundreds of local girls are to be saved.”

Davis claimed to have been frustrated by a number of unsuccessful attempts to secure the abducted girls’ release, and alleged that from the Nigerian media, he saw an undeniable connection between the Chibok girls’ fate and cutting off the funding that is Boko Haram’s lifeblood.

In particular, he emphasised the role some “senior politicians of a major opposition party are playing in channeling money from Al Qaeda to Boko Haram.”

He argued that “these individuals are bank-rolling the group’s brutal activities to create instability ahead of the February 2015 Nigerian general election. There would be an endless cycle of evil if the Chibok girls are freed without the group’s sponsors being stopped. It would simply lead to many more young women being taken in their place.”

Davis further cautioned: “Tackling the moneymen behind Boko Haram must be an essential part of the West’s anti-terror approach. At the same time, those politicians implicated in the terror funding scandal must be investigated without delay. To do otherwise would mean unleashing untold trauma and devastation on hundreds more innocent Nigerian girls. To these young women and their families, the cost of further inaction would be incalculable.”

•Adapted from a Daily Sun report. Photo shows Dr. Stephen Davis.

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