Tuesday 27 May 2014

The Only Nigerian Journalist With Access To Boko Haram Flown In To Help

Salkida was born in Bornu State where Boko Haram originated. He has known its leaders all his life and has unprecedented access. He has been arrested severally and accused of being a Boko Haram sympathizer because he could report with in-depth knowledge on who they were . He fled to Dubai after going underground for six weeks because his life was in danger. Two weeks ago he was summoned by Goodluck Jonathan's aides to come out of exile. Sources said he was afraid of coming back but was given a letter of indemnity signed by the President when he flew to Nigeria. Sources said Mr Salkida was able to travel by taxi to the group's forest camp to speak with Shekau. He is probably the only civilian to have seen Shekau alive and returned to tell the tale. He is trusted by the Boko Haram sect and he did return to say that the girls he saw were well taken care of adequately fed and sheltered, the only request they had was that they wanted to go home. Salkida's mission was complicated by the chaos surrounding government pronouncements about negotiations with the terrorist group.
In 2009 Salkida was exiled from Bornu to Abuja by the Governor in what looked like an internal deportation of its citizen because he interviewed the Boko Haram leader Mohammed Yusuf before his death in the hands of the Nigerian Police. See his Tweets after the cut... You can follow him on Twitter @Ahmad Salkida. He is also followed by Christian Amampour I discovered.









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