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.”
Shettima orders mass production of video
The Governor of Borno State, Kashim
Shettima, has however ordered that the Boko Haram video be reproduced
in mobile storage devices.
The governor, in a statement by his
Special Adviser on Media, Isa Gusau, said this was to enable the
parents and guardians as well as other pupils of the government
college to identify the kidnapped girls through the video.
The statement reads in part, “Governor
Shettima has directed transfer of the video into mobile storage devices
under the care of some officials, including the Chairman of Chibok Local
Government Area, who have been given an immediate task of showing the
videos to parents, some of the freed students who know their abducted
colleagues, teachers and management staff of Government Secondary
School, Chibok.
“With this, we hope that the girls in
the video can be identified to ascertain if they are part of the
abducted students or otherwise.
“He (the governor) is however optimistic
about the video. Already, some concerned individuals in Maiduguri and
Abuja are, on the request of the governor, making efforts to contact
parents and relations of some of the abducted girls, who might be within
reach to get feedback regarding the video.”
“Governor Shettima views the development
as encouraging, especially given the fact that some of the girls said
they were not harmed. The governor hopes that the girls did not speak
under duress.
“While awaiting the confirmation,
Governor Shettima calls on citizens of Borno State, most of whom
commenced another round of fasting today(Monday) to seek divine help
by intensifying their prayers for the safe release of the schoolgirls
who are very precious not only to Borno but to the entire world.”
In the statement, the governor
expressed “appreciation to the President and his wife, Patience,
for their efforts towards the release of the schoolgirls.”
He also lauded other world leaders,
citizens of the world and the media whose pressure had been of
tremendous help so far.
Military doubts video
But the military expressed doubts about
the authenticity of the video which it said had thrown up a lot of
questions that the security forces were trying to resolve.
“The video has raised a lot of questions
and we are resolving them. There are many angles to solving this matter
and we are not leaving any one,” the Director of Defence Information,
Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, told one of our correspondents.
Olukolade, however, said, “We are still studying the video.”
It was also learnt in Abuja that
security agencies had been holding a series of meetings to respond to
the latest development.
A source told The PUNCH that the Office of the National Security Adviser hosted top military and security operatives on the girls’ abduction saga.
It was also gathered that security
operatives might invite some of the girls who escaped and their parents
for a chat to verify the claim in the video.
CAN kicks against conversion of schoolgirls
Meanwhile, the Christian Association of
Nigeria said that the purported conversion of the abducted schoolgirls
to Islam was a declaration of war against Christians in the country.
CAN, through its National Director of
Research, Elder Sunday Oibe, also said the girls could not be used as
an exchange for the release of any Boko Haram member.
“I have the consent of our national
president (Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor) who is abroad to address you. First,
these children are Christians and not Muslims and so they cannot be
converted to a religion that is not theirs at gunpoint without
conviction,”Oibe told journalists.
He added, “Is that how conversion is
being carried out? All the children displayed are Christians and that is
the motive behind the abduction.
“It is simple. Because they are
Christians and they represent the Church in the eyes of their abductors.
Secondly, it smacks of some form of religious persecution. If not why
are their captors converting them to another religion? And if they say
they will use them as a condition to negotiate their men in detention,
our daughters are not criminals and cannot be used in any way to free
their criminal fighters.
“Show us where in Nigeria you have seen
Christians fighting and throwing bombs in the name of God; we challenge
any one to show us where Christians have abducted Muslim children in the
name of Christianity. We challenge anyone to prove to us in Nigeria
where Christians have taken arms in the name of protecting Christianity
or even carry out acts of genocide on helpless and defenceless
Nigerians. As far as we are concerned, it is a war against Christians
and Christianity.
“We are not speaking for the Nigerian
state.The state will speak for itself but we cannot be forced by some
people to define for us our predicament and persecution. It is a war
against Christians and the Church. We are feeling it and deeply
affected. No amount of propaganda can deter us from saying the truth.
“We have said ours. It is now left for
the government to expedite action and return our children to us. They
are Christians, they are not slaves, they are not Muslims and it is
unacceptable to us. Let the whole world see it now.”
Fact-finding committee meets UK, US, others
The Presidential Fact-Finding Committee
on the abduction of the schoolgirls on Monday interacted with officials
of foreign countries that have pledged to support efforts by the
Federal Government to secure the release of the girls.
The countries include the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, China and France.
According to a statement by the
committee’s spokesman, Kingsley Osadolor, the interaction which lasted
hours took place in Abuja.
No comments:
Post a Comment