President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday spoke on the seven foreign hostages that Islamist sect, Ansaru, claimed to have killed, saying they may have died from health related causes or direct killing by the sect members.
Addressing a joint press briefing with the visiting Lebanese President, Michel Sleiman, at the State House, Jonathan said he had briefed his visitor, promising to get to the root of it and recover their copses if truly dead.
He said: “We really suspect that some probably have died either from health or other related causes or direct killing but we still believe that not all the seven because even the release in the social media did not really show all the seven so we are still working on it.
“I briefed my colleague, President Suleiman, that we are still working on it and will get to the root and if they are killed I insisted that we must get their corpses.
“That is the best I can tell you and I cannot do more than that.”
President Jonathan, described the Boko Haram insurgency as “a sad moment in our history”, adding: “It is quite sad.
“It is a very ugly phase, which we would pass through.”
Jonathan recalled the effort made in collaboration with some friendly countries like the United Kingdom and others to see that the hostages were freed.
According to him, security agencies were however being careful because of the past experience, explaining further that the “services were being careful so that if they notice invasion they would not just turn round and kill the people.”
Speaking, visiting President Suleiman expressed optimism that some of the hostages could still be alive.
He also hoped that should they have been killed, their corpses would be found and released.
Both Presidents during bilateral talks noted the importance of economic and trade cooperation and urged their respective Ministers of Trade and Investment, Commerce and Industry to speed up their efforts to conclude the ongoing negotiations of the Trade and Investment Promotion Agreements for them to be signed as soon as possible.
President Jonathan and his guest also underlined their commitment to promote bilateral technical and capacity building and cooperation in the fields of agriculture and allied industry, trade and investment, culture and tourism, infrastructure development and public works, aviation and combating terrorism.
The two leaders noted the significant roles played by the two countries in their respective regional organizations, notably Lebanon in the Arab League and Nigeria in the ECOWAS and the African Union.
They pledged to work through these institutions to support theUnited Nations in the discharge of its mandate as provided for in the Charter.
They lauded Nigeria’s exemplary role in contributing to the peace keeping efforts of the Unites Nations.
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