The All Progressives Congress, APC, has called for an independent inquiry to unravel the circumstances surrounding the ceasefire deal announced by the federation government which the leader of the Boko Haram sect, Abubakar Shekau, has denied in a recent video.

Shekau, in a video on Friday said his group never entered into such an agreement with the federal government and described Danladi Adamu, the alleged negotiator on behalf of the sect, as an impostor.

The national publicity secretary of the APC, Lai Mohammed, on Sunday asked the President Goodluck Jonathan administration to explain to Nigerians how it got swindled by an impostor, who the major players of the negotiation were and what the government plans to do to address what has now become a “monumental national and international embarrassment”.

“President Jonathan owes Nigerians an explanation on what has now turned to be an unprecedented global faux pas. Engaging in cheap damage control by insisting on the genuineness of the deal will only amount to taking Nigerians for a ride,” it said.

The APC said the saddest part of what has now turned out to be a fake deal is that it gave false hopes to the parents of the abducted Chibok school girls who remain in Boko Haram captivity that their children’s release was imminent, especially as the government even announced a specific date for the release of the girls.

“The ceasefire deal with Boko Haram was announced at the highest level of the military and supported by the political authority on Oct. 17th. Now that it has been described as a fluke, there is every indication that the Jonathan Administration was swindled by someone masquerading as a Boko Haram negotiator, while the Administration itself went ahead to fool Nigerians as well as the international community. Whatever happens, the sole responsibility falls on the Administration,” the party said.

It said further, “When Boko Haram continued to carry out deadly attacks and annex territories, despite the so-called ceasefire, we waited for the government to tell Nigerians what was happening, but there was no convincing explanation. When the date announced for the release of the girls passed, we waited for the government to tell Nigerians what the problem was, but all we got from the easily excitable and trifling presidential spokesmen was platitude.”

The APC called on President Jonathan to at least admit his error in negotiating with an impostor, and come up with a concrete plan that will ensure the release of the more than 200 kidnapped girls and bring respite for their parents whose hopes have continually been dashed.