Shekau denies ceasefire, says Chibokgirls have converted to Islam, marriedoff

Boko Haram denied that they had agreed to a
ceasefire in a new video obtained on Friday by
AFP, describing the Nigerian government
claims as a lie and apparently ruling out
future talks.
The group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, also
claimed the 219 schoolgirls kidnapped from
the remote northeast town of Chibok, in Borno
state, in April had converted to Islam and
been married off.
In addition, Shekau said the Islamists were
holding a German national, who was
kidnapped in Adamawa state, also northeast
Nigeria, in July.
The video comes after a surprise Nigerian
military and presidency announcement on
October 17 that a deal had been reached with
the militants to end hostilities.
A senior presidential aide to Goodluck
Jonathan also said agreement had been
reached to free the schoolgirls, whose
abduction sparked global anger and demands
for their release.
There was immediate scepticism about both
claims because of previous assertions of
ceasefires and the identity of the purported
Boko Haram envoy at the supposed talks,
Danladi Ahmadu.
Violence — and fresh kidnappings — have
continued unabated since the announcement,
including a triple bombing of a bus station in
the northern city of Gombe on Friday that
killed at least eight.
Nigeria’s government maintains that talks
were ongoing in the Chadian capital,
Ndjamena.
But Shekau, speaking in Hausa, dressed in
military fatigues and boots with a black
turban, and flanked by 15 armed fighters, said:
“We have not made ceasefire with anyone…
“We did not negotiate with anyone… It’s a lie.
It’s a lie. We will not negotiate. What is our
business with negotiation? Allah said we
should not.”
He also said he did not know Danladi.
– Kidnapped girls –
There was no indication of when or where the
video was shot but it was obtained through
the same channels as previous
communications from the group.
In it, Shekau mentions the Chibok girls for the
first time since a video obtained on May 5,
when more than 100 were shown in a rural
location dressed in the hijab and reciting
verses from the Koran.
Then, the militant leader said many of the
girls had converted to Islam but in the latest,
he indicated that all of those held had become
Muslims.
“Don’t you know the over 200 Chibok
schoolgirls have converted to Islam? They
have now memorised two chapters of the
Koran,” he said.
Shekau previously threatened to sell the girls
as slave brides and also suggested that he
would be prepared to release them in
exchange for Boko Haram prisoners.
In the latest message, he said while laughing:
“We have married them off. They are in their
marital homes.”
Human Rights Watch said in a report
published this week that Boko Haram was
holding upwards of 500 women and young
girls and that forced marriage was
commonplace in the militant camps.
One former hostage said she saw some of the
Chibok girls forced to cook and clean for other
women and girls who had been chosen for
“special treatment because of their beauty”.
– German national –
Shekau’s claim in the video that they were
“holding your German hostage” is the first
claim of responsibility for the abduction,
which happened on July 16.
The German foreign ministry in Berlin said it
did not want to comment when contacted by
AFP.
Armed gunmen kidnapped the foreigner, who
was said to be a teacher at a government
technical training centre in Gombi, about 100
kilometres (62 miles) from the Adamawa state
capital Yola.
Suspicion immediately fell on Boko Haram,
which has repeatedly attacked schools
teaching a so-called Western curriculum, as
well as teachers and students.
An offshoot of Boko Haram, Ansaru, has
previously claimed the kidnapping of at least
eight foreigners in northern Nigeria since 2012
but the group has been largely dormant for
more than a year.
The group reportedly broke with Boko Haram
to specifically target foreigners instead of
Nigerians and executed seven expatriates it
seized from Bauchi state in 2013.
In January 2012, Boko Haram kidnapped
German engineer Edgar Raupach at a
construction site on the outskirts of the
northern city of Kano.
He was killed in a military raid on a Boko
Haram hideout on the outskirts of the city four
months later.
Kidnappings for ransom by criminal gangs are
common in the oil-producing south. On
October 24, armed men shot dead one German
national and kidnapped another in Ogun state,
southwest Nigeria.
Both were working for the construction firm
Julius Berger. The hostage was later released,
the company said on Thursday.