Boko Haram chieftain distributes letter requesting talks with government

A man who claimed to be a senior member of dreaded sect, Boko Haram, on Monday distributed a letter requesting for talks with the government.
A Boko Haram chieftain in Borno State, Sheik Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulazeez, distributed the letter in Maiduguri.
Abdulazeez is a known Boko Haram member but said to be a moderate.
The Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Borno State chapter, Aba Kakami, was handed the letter by Abdulazeez.
Abdulazeez was the sect member who set the initial conditions for dialogue with the Federal Government.
In the initial conditions, the sect opted to discuss with the Federal Government in Saudi Arabia, with Nigeria’s former Head of State, Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari, nominated by the group to represent it.
Though the talks did not eventually hold because Buhari spurned the offer to lead the talks on behalf of Boko Haram, Abdulazeez believes it is time to negotiate and thus said in the latest letter: “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.”
Abdulazeez, who said he wrote on behalf of the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, named a University of Maiduguri top shop, Imam Gabchiya, as the leader of the sect’s team to the talks.