On This One Condition WeWill Release Your AbductedGirls – Boko Haram

A former mediator of the Boko Haram

group, Shehu Sani has revealed that the

over 200 schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria by

the Islamist militants could be released in

exchange for jailed comrades. The girls

were snatched from their boarding school in

Chibok in the lawless Borno region in the

north of the country. 

The former mediator of the group told

newsmen that he believes the video, where

Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau

threatens to sell the girls as slaves, shows he

plans to use them as 'bargaining chips'

rather than kill them. He said the footage,

released on Monday, was an attempt to

persuade the Nigerian government into a

prisoner trade.

He told the newspaper: "From my

knowledge of the group, to have him saying

that he will sell them is proof that this issue

can be resolved. The group is most likely to

want to attach some kind of conditions to the

girls being released, such as the freeing of

some of their own prisoners."

In the video, the Boko Haram leader is seen

dressed in combat fatigues standing in front

of an armoured personnel carrier and two

pick-up trucks mounted with sub-machine

guns. He then declares: "I abducted your

girls. I will sell them in the market, by

Allah." Shekau then takes a swipe at

democracy, Western education, efforts for

Muslims and Christians to live in peace and

rails against non-believers in Islam.

Nigerian Police are now offering a £300,000

reward to anyone who can help them find

the missing children. The director of Special

Forces has told the Foreign Office that UK

personnel could support the Nigerian armed

forces with drones, intelligence, military

planning or even join a rescue. However,

top brass are reluctant to take part in a raid

after the botched SBS mission in which

British construction worker Chris McManus,

28, was executed by his Nigerian kidnappers

in March 2012. The White House has also

branded the kidnapping an 'outrage and

tragedy' and the State Department said the

US would send a 'co-ordination cell'

including military personnel and law

experts to Nigeria.