Abubakar Shekau says his group will only release the girls in exchange for detained militants.
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.
Read his full speech below:
“My greetings goes to all Muslim faithful, especially the jihadist. I am the father of Muhammadu, Abubakar the son of Muhammadu Shekau. May God grant us good intentions and make us succeed in our quest to see the face of Allah in this perilous times; the times when indecent living like homosexuality is being accorded legislative backing; the era when adultery and fornication has become a thing of pride; the period when people go about the world as though there is no God.
“Just like a young man came out to say recently that he never believes in the existence of God – and we said to the young man that he was caught napping to realize that that is what westernization is teaching the world; that is the values of America, France, Britain; but if you are just realizing that, then may the wrath of Allah befall you.
“To you my dear brethren, Muslims, those who are true believers and not those that practice democracy, not those who believe in constitution, not those who believe in western education. My regards to my leaders like Mullar Umar, the Amirul Muminin in Afghanistan, great minds like Sheikh Al Zawahiri; those like Amir of Yemen, Abu Basir; the likes of Abu Mus’ab Abdul Wudud; and others In Pakistan and Iran, like Al-Baghadad. My greetings go to you all. I thank you all. We give thanks to almighty Allah; here we are in the land called Nigeria; but we don’t see it as Nigeria.
“May God’s wrath befall the name Nigeria; all we know is the land of God. We are doing the religion of God and no one will stop us from practicing the religion of Allah, even if it is going to be only for a few people of millions of people.
“God has given us victories of recent and we give thanks to Him. We were the ones that detonated bomb in Abuja, that filthy city; we were responsible for the bomb in Kano, in Plateau. We were the ones that sent a female bomber to the refinery in Lagos but Adams Oshiomole the governor of Edo state said it was a fire disaster.
“Yahaya Jingir, the leader of the Izala we will deal with you; you servant of democracy. We are the true bombers.
“We led the attack on military base and killed the soldiers’ commander; (leery sarcastically) and the military are lying that they killed 50 of our men; liars! How could you have killed us when I killed all your soldiers and the policemen there? I was the one that ordered the bomb in Konduga.
“God is great, God is great! You will never understand my mode of operation because I am working for God.
“Nigerians are saying BringBackOurGirls, and we are telling Jonathan to bring back our arrested warriors, our army.
(Speaking in faulty English) “Tell me who you are; I am reading the Quran, and you are reading the constitution; I am reading the rules and regulations of the Quran, and you are doing that of the constitution, the book of Lord Lugard, the book of Tafawa Balewa.
“We have recovered several arms from the Damboa military base attack including armoured tanks and Kalashnikov rifles. (Pointing at the stolen arms) Look at what God has given us free of charge; we filled our vans with ammunitions like sands. This is what is called religion and worship.
“The video ended with Shekau raising an AK47 rifle with one hand and fired into the air severally with rapid action mode”.
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