Boko Haram Video: Army Declares Journalist, Two Others Wanted

Zacheaus Somorin

Ahmed Salkida, a Nigerian journalist prominent for his access to the extremist Boko Haram sect, has been declared wanted by the Nigerian Army.
According to Premium Times, the Army in a post on its Twitter handle on Sunday did not immediately give reasons for the announcement.

Also declared wanted were Ahmed Bolori and Aisha Wakil. Ms. Wakil, a lawyer, was in contact with the Nigerian government during the 2013 amnesty negotiations with the Boko Haram insurgents. She is believed to have met with former President Goodluck Jonathan at the time as part of the negotiation, which later broke down.

Bolori is known as coordinator of the Fa’ash Foundation and the Partnership Against Violent Extremism (Pave). He lives in Maiduguri, Boko Haram’s birthplace and the epicentre of its insurgency.

He witnessed the rise of the terror group, which turned violent in 2009.

Security analysts told PREMIUM TIMES the development might not be unconnected with the video that was released today, which the Army deemed as a propaganda for the Boko Haram sect.

Mr. Sakilda had said on Twitter that the latest Boko Haram video was sent exclusively to him before the sect uploaded it to YouTube. Boko Haram had said in the video that it would only negotiate with the Nigerian government through journalists known to be close to it.

Further details later