The militant Islamic sect, Boko Haram, has said it will not free the over 200 girls it abducted from the Government Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State unless the Federal Government releases its detained members.
The group’s leader, Sheikh Abubakar Shekau, in a 27-minute video made public on Monday, claimed that he was commanded by Allah to kidnap the girls.
In the video, the girls dressed in hijab are shown reciting a verse of the Holy Koran, indicating that majority of them converted to Islam.
The video is the first time the girls who were kidnapped from their school hostel on April 14 will be shown to the public.
The terrorist leader, who dressed in camouflage and held an AK-47 rifle close to his chest, wondered why there was so much global outcry over the abduction of the girls.
Speaking in Arabic and Hausa, Shekau said besides the girls whose actual number he did not give, there were many kidnapped men and women in the sect’s custody.
He also boasted that no force could trace the whereabouts of the girls let alone their rescue until the terror group’s condition was met.
“All I’m saying is if you want us to release your girls that we kidnapped, you must release our brethren that are held in Borno, Yobe, Kano, Kaduna, Abuja, Lagos and Enugu. We know that you have incarcerated our brethren all over this country (Nigeria),” the Agence France Presse quoted him as saying in the video.
He added, “There are some of my brethren who have spent five complete years without seeing their wives, without seeing their children. For God’s sake, even for ensuring their release, will I not kidnap? After all Allah says I should kidnap.
“You that seized and detained my brethren for five years, you arrested and kept a woman without getting married for four, five years, you seized and hold our children.
“You did all these to us and today because we did what Allah already told us to do and you are busy making noise ‘Shekau has kidnapped this and that, he said he would sell’. Yes I will sell.
“I will sell. Those of them that have not accepted Islam, they are now gathered in numbers. They are staying with us. We will never release them until our brethren are released.”
The AP reported that “families have said most girls abducted are Christians but the about 100 shown under a tree in the video recite Muslim prayers in Arabic. Many are barefoot. Some appear fearful, others desolate.”
FG gives conflicting signals
There were however no clear signs as of 9pm on Monday on whether the Federal Government would honour the condition given by the sect or not.
While the Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, ruled out the possibility of meeting the demand, his Information counterpart, Labaran Maku, said it was not what the government would give immediate response to.
Moro, in a chat with the British Broadcasting Corporation, said that it was “absurd” for a “terrorist group” to try to set conditions.
But Maku said, “I have not watched the video as I am talking to you. You will also agree with me that our reaction to the matter cannot be spontaneous.”
Also on Monday, the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency, Mr. Mike Omeri,said the government would explore all options to secure the release of the girls.
Omeri, who coordinated an interagency news conference in Abuja, said, “There was a video purported to have been released by the Boko Haram leader. Security experts are studying the video.
“The government of Nigeria is going to explore all options to secure the release of the abducted girls.
“An earlier report by a section of the media purported to have been issued by the government is totally false. This remains the official position of the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
Pressed several times to confirm whether the Federal Government was going to negotiate with the Boko Haram insurgents or exchange prisoners for the girls, he insisted that all options were open to the government.
“I still say all options are open. At the moment, all options are open. We are interacting with military and security experts from different parts of the world. So these are part of the options that are left for us. There are many more. If it is necessary that we use any action to get our girls, we will do it.
However, Director of Information at the Department State Security, Ms. Marylyn Ogar, ruled out any negotiation with the terrorists.
“No government in the world will negotiate with terrorists. That is the best practice and we believe in the global best practice,” she said.
On the identity of the spokesperson for Boko Haram on the released video, Ogar insisted that original leaders of the group, Abu Kaka and Shekau, had been “taken out” by the security agencies.
“I think we have said on several occasions that Boko Haram has become a franchise. So when you talk about Abu Kaka; when you talk about Shekau, Boko Haram has become a franchise. Anybody anywhere in the country can get up and assume Shekau and Kaka. Kaka is no more. Abubakar Shekau is no more.
“Both of them have been taken out a long time ago.”
Another security source however told one of our correspondents that government’s position on the demand by Boko Haram was not likely to be made public because of its sensitive nature.
The source,who did not want his name in print, said that meetings were already ongoing on the demand because it would not be ideal for the Federal Government alone to take decisions on it (demand).
He added that foreign experts, including specialised negotiators with terrorists, were already in the country because of the emphasis on the safety of the girls.
The source said, “You know, technically, there are many things to that decision; you have the United Nations, the international community and other interests involved now.
“So, you can see that there are political, security and diplomatic issues involved. Nigeria cannot take a unilateral decision.
“There are specialised negotiators with terrorists among the foreign security experts. So any decision on that demand cannot be made public. You know that the bottom line here is the safety of those girls.”
Source: Punch
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