Boko Haram, an Islamic terrorist
sect has on Monday claimed responsibility for the abduction of over 267 pupils
of Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno State which took place
on April 14.
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 defiant response to the 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.
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 the Director of Defence Information, Maj.-Gen
Chris Olukolade was contacted, 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.”
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 spent 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
