President Muhammadu Buhari reiterated his pledge to defeat Boko Haram by December when he appeared on Al Jazeera’s Upfront hosted by British Journalist, Mehdi Hasan. However, he declined to bet on the December deadline. He admitted that he would be willing to negotiate with the group to secure the release of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls.

 
“They have to prove to us that they are alive, they are well, and then we can … negotiate with them. We said it and we meant it,” Buhari told Hasan.
On what he would offer the terrorists in exchange for the girls, Buhari said he would offer whatever results from the negotiation, be it financial payments or prisoner release or any other term as agreed.
On his pledge to defeat Boko Haram by December, Buhari said. “As soon as the rainy season comes, which is by the end of the year […] Boko Haram will virtually be out of their main stronghold and that will be the end of it… attacks by Boko Haram on townships, on military installations, will certainly stop.”
However, despite his assurance that the Islamist sect will be defeated by the end of the year, if the military fails, Buhari says he will not resign out of shame of not keeping to his promise but would intensify efforts.