Boko Haram terrorist group has declared that if Nigeria wants them to release the over 200 girls it abducted from the Government Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State a few weeks ago, the Federal Government must release its members who are currently detained in various prisons across the country.
Kingpin of the dreaded group, Sheikh Abubakar Shekau, gave this condition in a 27-minute video obtained by AFP and made public on Monday.
Shekau claimed that he was commanded by Allah to kidnap the schoolgirls.
The terrorist leader, who was clad in camouflage and holding an AK-47 rifle close to his chest, expressed shock why there was so much global outcry over the abduction of the girls.
He disclosed that aside the school girls, there were many kidnapped men and women who were in their den.
He also vowed that no force was capable of locating their camp, let alone rescuing the girls 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 holding our children.
“You did all these to us and today because we did what Allah already told us to do, 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 number. They are staying with us. We will never release them until our brethren are released.”
The AP reported that “families have said most of the girls abducted are Christians but about 100 shown under a tree in the video recite Muslim prayers in Arabic. Many are barefoot. Some appear fearful, others desolate.”