Boko Haram, the Islamist militant group behind the abduction of more than 200 Nigerian young girls last month, is now threatening to sell them. Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the group, spoke in a lengthy video, which was first released by Agence France-Presse on Monday, and admitted the kidnapping. Nigerian authorities updated their count on Friday to 276. Nonetheless, the latest count of the victims is 223, after at least 53 of them have already escaped.
“I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah. There is a market for selling humans. Allah says I should sell. He commands me to sell. I will sell women. I sell women,” Shekau said, as translated from the local Hausa language to English by CNN. No further details were mentioned. Nigeria has not released a complete list of the names of the victims.
Last April 14, an armed group of Boko Haram made a force entry to the all-girls secondary school in Chibok, a village in Borno State, Nigeria. The group, which was reportedly boarded a convoy of trucks, took the girls and immediately left, taking the victims to a hidden place. The incident raised concerns around the globe. Protests were held in many areas including Los Angeles and London. Netizens rushed to Twitter and the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls was created. A Facebook page with the same name was also created and now has more than 26,600 Likes.
Meanwhile, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said on Sunday that his government is doing everything in its power to rescue the girls. However, he criticized the families of the abducted girls and claimed that they are not fully cooperating with the authorities. The Nigerian leader, who has already asked help from other countries including the US and Britain, noted that some parents of the kidnapped girls do not want to give the complete identities of their children to the police.
The name Boko Haram means “Western education is a sin,” and the group is strongly against the education of women. Its own version of Islam’s Sharia law states that “women should always stay at home taking care of their husbands and children, and not go to school to learn to read and write.”
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