The leader of the Boko Haram terrorist group that kidnapped almost 276 girls in April says that he had the young women married off ages ago, dashing their parents hope for their return.
In fact, Abubakar Shekau says he’s barely given the schoolgirls a thought since he sold them to military husbands for around $12 each.
‘If you knew the state your daughters are in today, it might lead some of you… to die from grief,’ Shekau said in a video released over the weekend. ‘The issue of the girls is long forgotten because I have long ago married them off,’ he says with a laugh. He says they have all converted to Islam and have each memorised two chapters of the Quran.
Shekau’s statement conflicts with a statement from the Nigerian government, that says it reached a truce with Boko Haram and was negotiating the release of the schoolgirls.
They girls were captured from their boarding school in the middle of the night almost six months ago. 276 were taken, but some were able to escape and so far 219 remain missing.
Last week Boko Haram abducted 25 more girlsfrom a remote town in northeastern Nigeria. They took all the women in the town but later released the older ones.
The US has offered $7m for the capture of Shekau.
Picture: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.