How Boko Haram Married The Girls Off As families of the 219 Chibok girls in shock Over The Purported Marriage

Boko Haram’s spiritual chieftain Abubakar Shekau, has in a new  video disowned Danladi Adamu, the man who claimed to be the Scribe of the Boko Haram,  even as he also put a lie to any claims going in to cease-fire deal with Nigeria government.

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.

This is as families of the 219 schoolgirls held for more than six months by Boko Haram militants on Saturday said they were shocked but not surprised at fresh claims that the teenagers had been married off.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau made the claim in a new video obtained by AFP on Friday, in which he also said that all the girls had converted to Islam and rejected claims of a ceasefire and peace talks.

The head of the Chibok Elders Forum in the northeast Nigerian town, Pogo Bitrus, told AFP: “It (the claim about marriage) is shocking to us, although we know that Boko Haram is not a reliable group.

“We were sceptical about the talks to release our girls and we never took the ceasefire seriously because since the announcement, they have never stopped attacking communities.

“Therefore the information that our girls have been married off is not surprising to us,” said Bitrus, whose four nieces are among the hostages.

“We are only hoping the government will step up whatever efforts it is making to quell the insurgency.”

Nigeria’s military and presidency said on October 17 that they had reached a deal to end five years of deadly violence in the country’s northeast, as well as agreement to release the Chibok girls.

But violence has continued unabated, including a triple bomb attack on a bus station in the northern city of Gombe on Friday, which killed at least eight and injured dozens more.

Shekau indicated in earlier video messages that the girls would be sold as slave brides and that some, but not all, had converted to Islam.

His latest claim that they were now all Muslims and had been “married off” chimes with testimony from former hostages that forced conversion and marriage are commonplace in Boko Haram camps.

Human Rights Watch said in a report published this week that upwards of 500 women and girls have been kidnapped since 2009, although some estimates put the figure at more than 1,000.

Enoch Mark, a Christian pastor in Chibok whose daughter and niece are among the hostages, said the girls’ families were “lost for words”.

“Since they were kidnapped we have no certainty about the situation they are in. We keep getting conflicting information,” he added.

They were “ironically lucky” that world attention has focused on the Chibok girls, he added, but said their situation was part of a wider issue.

“Only God knows the number of girls kidnapped by Boko Haram,” he said. “We only keep hoping that they will be returned to us and if they are not we take solace in God.”

Shekau had also foreclosed the chances of prisoner exchange for the release of the Chibok girls said he had long married the girls off, and  he never anticipated going into ceasefire agreement with the federal government.

“We don’t know that imposter called Danladi Adamu,  we have never him or his like to speak on our behalf because in this war there is no going back”,  said Shekau.

“The issue of the girls is long forgotten because I have long married them off”.

Shekau’s video came to alter the general expectations from Nigerians especially the parents of the abducted Chibok girls that the girls might be released on Friday following what was said to be an improved negotiation with the terrorists somewhere in Chad Republic.

          Meanwhile 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.