The Federal Government says it is currently in talks with the Islamist terrorist group, Boko Haram on a possible ceasefire, with the ultimate aim of security a permanent cessation of attacks and hostilities.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed disclosed this in an email he sent to Reuters, outlining the background to the release of more than 104 Dapchi schoolgirls who were returned by the insurgents last week.

The Minister’s revelation of the ceasefire talks is coming on the heels of an open letter written by a civil society group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) to President Muhammadu Buhari, urging him to drop the proposed plan to grant amnesty to repentant members of the terrorist group.

“Unknown to many, we have been in wider cessation-of-hostility talks with the insurgents for some time now. We were able to leverage on the wider talks when the Dapchi girls were abducted,” the Minister said in the mail.