The terrorist Islamic sect, Boko Haram,
on Monday claimed responsibility for the April 14 abduction of over 267
pupils of Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno State.
The Agence France-Presse quoted the leader of the sect, Abubakar Shekau, as making the claim in a video the agency said it obtained.
Shekau, in the video, also threatened to
sell off the abducted girls in defiance of international outrage that
greeted the kidnapping of the girls from their hostel.
Boko Haram claimed responsibility for
the seizure of the girls barely 24hours after President Goodluck
Jonathan told the nation that no group had claimed responsibility for
the abduction.
Also, the President’s wife, Patience, has expressed doubt about the authenticity of the kidnapping.
“We the Nigerian women are saying that
no child is missing in Borno State. If any child is missing, let the
governor go and look for them. There is nothing we can do again,”Mrs
Jonathan told the women who met with her in the Presidential Villa on
Monday.
But, Shekau was quoted to have said, “I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah.”
He spoke just as the Daily Telegraph
of London reported that a former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown,
who is now a UN special envoy on education, led calls for Western
governments to assist with the rescue of the girls.
According to the report, a Foreign
Office spokesman said the government was in talks with the Nigerian
government and ‘security services’ but declined to say if that might
include Special Forces, such as the SAS.
The United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, over the weekend also promised America’s help.
He said, “The kidnapping of hundreds of
children by Boko Haram is an unconscionable crime and we will do
everything possible to support the Nigerian government to return these
young women to their homes and to hold the perpetrators to justice.”
When one of our correspondents contacted
the Director of Defence Information, Maj.-Gen Chris Olukolade, he said
that the military authorities had not seen the said video.
He said that even if there was such a video, the claim would have to be verified.
Olukolade added that the military had
been treating all claims and pieces of information relating to the
abduction of the schoolgirls with the deserved seriousness.
The Defence spokesman added,“On the so-
called video or message from the terrorists, let me reiterate the fact
that the military is taking every information or claims on this
abduction with due seriousness.
“This claim will also be studied although it will not distract the ongoing search.”
It was however learnt that the Nigerian
military had been working on an intelligence report that efforts were
being made to get all the students that registered for the Senior
Secondary Examination in Chibok, out of Borno State.
A source said that the move was part of a conspiracy to frustrate government investigation into the incident.
The BBC, also citing the video obtained by the AFP, also quoted Shekau as saying the girls should not have been in school in the first place, but rather should get married.
“God instructed me to sell them, they are his properties and I will carry out his instructions,” he said.
Assurances from President Goodluck
Jonathan have done little to convince Nigerians of the government’s
commitment to freeing the girls.
Boko Haram, which means “Western
education is forbidden”, has attacked numerous places of worship and
educational institutions in northern Nigeria.
The Associated Press said it was
unclear whether the video was made before or after reports last week
that some of the girls had been forced to marry their abductors, who
paid a nominal bride price of N200.
Others are reported to have been taken across borders into Cameroon and Chad.
The girls were in their final year of school, most of them aged 16 to 18.
Shekau in the 57-minute video also insisted that the girls were no better than the “booty of war.”
The terrorist, who is currently on the
most wanted list of both Nigerian and the US governments, said the
abducted schoolgirls were no more than slaves that he could choose
whatever he wanted to do with them.
He admitted that the girls had sent over
20 days in his custody and that he had not treated them any better than
the “booty of war.”
Shekau who did not display the girls
throughout the recording, said, “We would also give their hands in
marriage because they are our slaves. We would marry them out at the age
of nine. We would marry them out at the age of 12,” it depends on “our
choice”.
The terrorist leader, who spoke in Hausa
and Arabic languages interchangeably, noted that the girls were
captured because they were seeking Western education.
“Western education is sin, it is forbidden, and women must go and marry,” he said.
The video, which had been sent to local journalists via electronic mail, could not however be independently verified.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Jonathan said on Monday that no girl was missing.
She said this while speaking on the
arrest on Sunday of Naomi Murlah, one of the women who participated in a
recent protest on the abduction of the schoolgirls.
Murlah was picked up by the police on
Sunday after a meeting she had with the President’s wife alongside other
campaigners. Police confirmed on Monday that she was quizzed and
released.
A statement by the Force Public
Relations Officer, Frank Mba, on Monday said Murlah was invited for an
“interactive and fact-finding interview.”
The statement added that the woman was allowed to go home immediately after the interview.
The woman was alleged to have gained access into the Presidential Villa, disguising as a mother of one of the girls.
But a group, Bring Back Our Girls
Movement, which is championing the release of the 234 abducted girls,
alleged that Murlah was arrested by the police on the orders of the
President’s wife.
Murlah, who is a Deputy Director with
the National Directorate of Employment in Abuja, was said to have been
cleared by security agents to attend the meeting after presenting
herself as Grace.
Grace was on the list of those expected at the meeting.
Mrs. Jonathan told the gathering of women that Murlah had earlier approached her that she was the mother of one of the girls.
“So my sisters, you can all see that
within them they know what they are doing. With what is happening now,
will you believe that any children got missing?” she asked the women in
attendance at the meeting, and the women chorused “no.”
She then said, “So, we the Nigerian
women are saying that no child is missing in Borno State. If any child
is missing, let the governor go and look for them. There is nothing we
can do again.
“We will now go spiritual. What we women
should pray for now is for the killings in Borno to stop. God will
reveal them one by one. The blood of the innocent victims will come out
and speak.”
