Earlier this month, Australian counter terrorism officials conducted separate interviews with Stephen Davis and his wife. They wanted to know what Dr Davis had been doing in Nigeria for the past four months.
Dr Davis, a self-described "amateur peacemaker" from Perth, Australia, had embarked on a solo mission to rescue some of the more than 200 schoolgirls captured by Boko Haram militants in April.
"I was very confident when I left because I had spoken with some of the commanders and organised the release and handover of some of the girls," he said. "Otherwise I wouldn't have gone."
If the Australian investigators asked Dr Davis to name his occupation, he may have struggled.
The 63-year-old, who has a doctorate in political geography, was a mining consultant to global resources company WMC and to petroleum giant Shell.
It was at Shell in the mid 2000s that he began peace negotiations with rebels in the Niger Delta. He then served as an advisor to two Nigerian presidents, developing links with terror cells as he negotiated on behalf of the government.
A devout Christian, he moved to Britain to work as a canon in the Ministry of Reconciliation at Coventry Cathedral, alongside future Archbishop of Canterbury John Welby.
It was shortly after he returned to Perth when Dr Davis heard of the schoolgirl kidnapping in the village of Chibok, he decided to act.
He began remote negotiations with elements of Boko Haram. In Nigeria, he then travelled with a former Boko Haram guide in a beat-up car across the country's north, setting up a hand-over of girls that would contribute to a peace deal with the government.
But each of the three attempted transfers were thwarted by powerful political forces looking to undermine the ruling party, Dr Davis said in a telephone interview.
"They were sabotaged each one of them in the end but we had commanders willing to do it."
The only success in his mission came after he received a phone call from a man who had been kidnapped by Boko Haram. They began orchestrating an escape for a small number of girls, with four eventually managing to cross from a camp on the Cameroon side of the border to a safe place in Nigeria.
"They're pretty heroic these young girls, pretty amazing," he said. "What they went through is staggering."
Dr Davis said Boko Haram had become more hardline since a peace deal with the government collapsed last year.
He accused members of Nigeria's political opposition of sponsoring the more extreme elements of the group in order to weaken the ruling party.
Boko Haram out of control
"Some of the guys are uncontrolled in that they are just beheading people before they even know who the person is," he said.
"Or they go into a village and they'll disembowel a pregnant woman and take the live foetus for a ritual."
Dr Davis said the situation in Nigeria was deteriorating faster than at any time in the past 12 years.
"When Boko Haram links up with ISIL - and there is interaction between the two - and with [terrorist group] al-Shabbab, that triangle is going to be the new home of terrorism like the world has not seen," he said.
"The guys before - there was no kidnapping, no rape. They wouldn't kidnap women or children, because that was contrary to the Koran. Now these guys will do anything, they are a totally different breed."
Dr Davis stressed the importance of negotiating with terrorists, no matter their crimes. "You've got to find common ground, you simply have to," he said.
"There is so much ground you can shift, if you've got time, and you can sit down again and again and again."
But he doubted another deal involving the release of kidnapped girls could be negotiated at the moment, "because things have tightened up so much".
"If it leaked out that they were willing to negotiate the releases of the girls or to talk of a peace deal, then other commanders would execute them," he said.
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| Stephen Davis last year with members of the terror group JAS, a forerunner to Boko Haram |
"I was very confident when I left because I had spoken with some of the commanders and organised the release and handover of some of the girls," he said. "Otherwise I wouldn't have gone."
If the Australian investigators asked Dr Davis to name his occupation, he may have struggled.
The 63-year-old, who has a doctorate in political geography, was a mining consultant to global resources company WMC and to petroleum giant Shell.
It was at Shell in the mid 2000s that he began peace negotiations with rebels in the Niger Delta. He then served as an advisor to two Nigerian presidents, developing links with terror cells as he negotiated on behalf of the government.
 |
| Stephen Davis in 2004 with Niger Delta rebels, on the eve of a peace deal with the government. |
It was shortly after he returned to Perth when Dr Davis heard of the schoolgirl kidnapping in the village of Chibok, he decided to act.
He began remote negotiations with elements of Boko Haram. In Nigeria, he then travelled with a former Boko Haram guide in a beat-up car across the country's north, setting up a hand-over of girls that would contribute to a peace deal with the government.
But each of the three attempted transfers were thwarted by powerful political forces looking to undermine the ruling party, Dr Davis said in a telephone interview.
"They were sabotaged each one of them in the end but we had commanders willing to do it."
The only success in his mission came after he received a phone call from a man who had been kidnapped by Boko Haram. They began orchestrating an escape for a small number of girls, with four eventually managing to cross from a camp on the Cameroon side of the border to a safe place in Nigeria.
"They're pretty heroic these young girls, pretty amazing," he said. "What they went through is staggering."
 |
| The four girls who escaped Boko Haram with Davis' help The only escapees since the first night of the abduction |
He accused members of Nigeria's political opposition of sponsoring the more extreme elements of the group in order to weaken the ruling party.
Boko Haram out of control
"Some of the guys are uncontrolled in that they are just beheading people before they even know who the person is," he said.
"Or they go into a village and they'll disembowel a pregnant woman and take the live foetus for a ritual."
Dr Davis said the situation in Nigeria was deteriorating faster than at any time in the past 12 years.
 |
| Dr Stephen Davis |
"The guys before - there was no kidnapping, no rape. They wouldn't kidnap women or children, because that was contrary to the Koran. Now these guys will do anything, they are a totally different breed."
Dr Davis stressed the importance of negotiating with terrorists, no matter their crimes. "You've got to find common ground, you simply have to," he said.
"There is so much ground you can shift, if you've got time, and you can sit down again and again and again."
But he doubted another deal involving the release of kidnapped girls could be negotiated at the moment, "because things have tightened up so much".
"If it leaked out that they were willing to negotiate the releases of the girls or to talk of a peace deal, then other commanders would execute them," he said.
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