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Nigeria: Boko Haram militants call for dialogue
“We are by this letter of invitation to our respected elders proving to government that we are not joking with the government, but we are awaiting the response of those concerned,” the letter said.
Abdulazeez said he was speaking on behalf of Abubakar Shekau, the sect’s leader.
But even if Abdulazeez does represent Shekau, the extent to which Boko Haram is controlled by Shekau is in doubt, and analysts think military pressure has fragmented it.
The letter nominated as mediator Imam Gabchiya, an official from the university in the city of Maiduguri, in the heartland of the Islamist insurgency.
There was no immediate reaction from government officials, but President Jonathan said on November 18 that no talks were going on with Boko Haram while they remained faceless and in the shadows.
The handover of the letter came three days after Nigeria’s army offered a 290 million naira (US$1.8 million) bounty for information leading to the capture of 19 leading members of the sect.
