Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima has taken an opposite direction with President Goodluck Jonathan on the prisoner swap proposed last Monday by Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.

While Jonathan has opted for a hardline posture, rejecting the offer for the exchange of the more than 200 kidnapped students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, with imprisoned Boko members, Shettima yesterday told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that the government should negotiate with Boko Haram – make a deal “with the devil” – if it means bringing the girls back.

“The issue of not negotiation, of not negotiating with the terrorists – it’s out of the question,” Shettima said. “If it means talking to the devil, it mean the devil can come down, we can get back our girls.”

Boko Haram, the group that kidnapped the girls, “are a bunch of raving lunatics,” Shettima said.

A month has passed since the girls were kidnapped from their hostel in the night of Monday, April 14, and the Nigerian government has been accused of not acting swiftly or efficiently enough to protect villages in the region threatened by Boko Haram.

•Photo shows Governor Shettima.