ICC Note:
In a video released Sunday, Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, pledged the West Africa terrorist network would not release the more than 240 predominantly Christian girls still in their captivity from a mass-abduction the group perpetrated the night of April 14. Shekau affirmed a pledge he made in a previous propaganda video that he would only release the girls in exchange for released Boko Haram militants who have been captured and imprisoned by Nigerian law enforcement and military. Learn everything you need to know about Boko Haram’s heinous schoolgirl abduction here.
07/16/2014 Nigeria (GBC) – The leader of the Boko Haram terrorist group, Abubakar Shekau, has vowed not to release more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls in his group’s captivity, saying the sect will only accede to the #BringBackOurGirls campaign after the release of Boko Haram militants held by the Nigerian government.
Mr. Shekau made the demand in a new video published Sunday, restating a position he has maintained since the abduction of the girls by Boko Haram militants April 14.
“Nigerians are saying BringBackOurGirls, and we are telling Jonathan to bring back our arrested warriors, our army,” he said in the video seen by PREMIUM TIMES.
Mr. Shekau claimed responsibility for the Emab plaza bomb attack in Abuja on June 25, and a blast at Apapa in Lagos which killed at least two people. The Emab attack killed more than 20 people.
In the video, the group’s erratic leader described the killings as a victory over Constitution and western influences.
Mr. Shekau praised several leaders of terrorist groups in the Middle East, in a move that appears to acknowledge the group’s ties to foreign terrorist networks.
He displayed several arms and ammunitions, including armoured vehicles his group had taken away from the military base in Damboa, with which he said he would deploy fully to execute some of the attacks in future.
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