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| Kidnapped Chibok girls |
The group’s leader, 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, which SHOWBIZPLUSng obtained
and clearly viewed, 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
military 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 an interview 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 is 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
practices,” 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.
Punch
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