insurgents by the end of this year, but declared that he will not
resign from office
if the promise is not achieved as he would rather "stay and fight it out."
Buhari, who stated this during a chat with Al Jazeera's UpFront programme,
expressed his readiness to negotiate with the insurgents to secure the release
of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls, but noted that "They have to prove to us
that they are alive, they are well, and then we can…negotiate with them.
"We said it and we meant it. If we are satisfied that the girls are alive," he
added.
When asked whether he would offer financial payments or release a prisoner
to Boko Haram in return for the girls, Buhari did not foreclose either
option, but
said: "it depends on the negotiations with the leadership of Boko Haram."
While restating the resolve of his government to defeat Boko Haram by the
end of 2015, the President said: "As soon as the rainy season comes (to an
end), which is by the end of the year […] Boko Haram will virtually be out of
their main stronghold and that will be the end of it [….] Attacks by Boko Haram
on townships, on military installations, will certainly stop."
He went on to deny seeing the Amnesty International report from June 2015,
'Nigeria: Stars on their shoulders: Blood on their hands', in which the human-
rights group documented abuses, torture and unlawful killings by the Nigerian
armed forces and urged the government to prosecute a group of officers and
senior commanders. "I haven't received that report personally," said Buhari.
"If I get those documents… I assure you that I will take action as Commander
in Chief."
On the statement credited to him in the past where he expressed for "the total
implementation of the sharia in the country," Buhari pointed out that "Nigerian
law does not allow for" so-called sharia punishments, such as stonings and
amputations, adding: "I cannot change it. I haven't been voted by [a] majority
of Nigerians to change Nigerian constitution."
Speaking about his record as a military dictator in the mid-1980s, and the
alleged human-rights abuses which occurred under his watch, he said: "If
there is any injustice that can be proved against me when I was there, I will
gladly apologize."
The President however refused to concede that his now-notorious 'war
against indiscipline' in the 1980s featured any such "injustice."
