Yusuf discusses the Boko Haram commander marrying a 21-year-old hostage after Mamu lied during his negotiation

Professor Usman Yusuf, Secretary of the Chief of Defence Staff’s seven-man negotiating committee, has claimed that a report written by Tukur Mamu, publisher of Desert Herald and Abuja-Kaduna victims negotiator, claiming that the Boko Haram leader wanted to marry Azurfa Lois John, 21, one of the recently released Abuja-Kaduna victims, is false.

According to Akahi News, on August 20, 2022, Mamu issued a statement informing Nigerians that one of the top bandits who kidnapped passengers from the Kaduna-Abuja train was reportedly planning to marry Azurfa, one of the victims.
“This is to alert the federal government and especially the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) that I can confirm through credible information at my disposal that if urgent action is not taken to immediately secure the release of the youngest victim of the train attack, a 21-year-old Azurfa Lois John, the abductors are planning to marry her any moment now, as they have done in the case of Leah Sharibu,” he stated. “This is to alert the federal government and especially the Christian Association of Nigeria (
But Yusuf told the Voice of America Hausa service in Kaduna that the leader of Boko Haram never approached the woman in question.

He says that she denied it even when the committee talked to her and said that the Commander had never approached her.
He made it clear that the committee put in a lot of effort for six months to ensure that the hostages from the Abuja train were released without being paid a ransom.
He mentioned that the committee never gave the terrorists any money to free the 23 hostages.
He stated, “We told the insurgents that it was wrong to hold pregnant women and children hostage since the 29th of March 2022, when the committee started working.”

A young girl of two years old was one of the 23 hostages.She was not older than two years when she was taken away.We advised them that it was improper for them to even have complaints about the government.