The identity of just who kidnapped more than three hundred schoolgirls in Nigeria finally became clear on Monday when a new video emerged of the leader of terrorist group Boko Haram admitting to the abduction. (See: The group that kidnapped 234 Nigerian school girls and its murderous campaign against education)
“I abducted your girls,” Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said in the video, according to news agency AFP. Shekau is said to have continued on to promise of the girls’ fate: “I will sell them in the market, by Allah.” Shekau also said in the video, according to AFP, that the outrage over the kidnapping is “because we are holding people [as] slaves.” AFP did not immediately make the video with Shekau’s comments available online for further analysis. A BBC translation of the video has the terrorist leader saying “the girls should not have been in school in the first place, but rather should get married,” and directly quotes him as saying “God instructed me to sell them, they are his properties and I will carry out his instructions.”
In the weeks since the girls were originally kidnapped from their school in the village of Chibok, in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, most observers had concluded that Boko Haram were the likely culprits, but until now the group has remained silent on the girls’ plight. Local reports have indicated that several of the at least 276 still missing girls have been sold to their captors as child brides for the sum of 2,000 Nigerian naira — or $12 USD — a situation that Shekau’s comments appear to verify.
The Nigerian government’s search — or lack thereof — for the kidnapped girls has drawn attention over the last week as the families of the abuctees have launched protests demanding more action. That pressure has caused President Goodluck Jonathan to finally speak out on national television about the crisis. “We promise that wherever these girls are, we’ll surely get them out,” Johnathan said on Sunday night. “One good thing that made me happy and I believe most Nigerians are happy is that there is no story that any of them have been hurt in terms of injury or death.” The president had previously told a May Day rally “we must find our missing girls” and “the perpetrators must be brought to book.”
That same pressure now appears to have caused the detention of one of the leaders of the protest movement. Naomi Mutah Nyadar , one of the leaders of the protests and a representative of Chibok, met with Nigerian first lady Patience Jonathan and was then taken to a police station, activists told the BBC. Saratu Angus Ndirpaya said the detention of herself and Nyadar took place after an all-night meeting with the first lady, during which she says Mrs. Johnathan accused the movement of fabricating the abductions to tarnish her husband’s image. Ayo Adewuyi, a spokesperson for the first lady, however, told AP journalists: “The first lady did not order the arrest of anybody, and I’m sure of that.”
Terrorist Leader Admits To Kidnapping Missing Nigerian Schoolgirls | ThinkProgress
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