As protests mount, calling upon leaders from around the world and other powers-that-be to #BringOurGirlsBack, the leader of Boko Haram has not only accepted responsibility for the kidnap of more than 200 girls from a Nigerian school, but threatened to sell them.
In the harrowing video, Abubakar Shekau, stands in front of a tank and in the middle of two masked militia with AK-47s. According to Reuters**, he laughs: 'I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah.
'Allah has instructed me to sell them. They are his property and I will carry out his instructions.'
The girls, all aged between 16 and 18, were abducted from a Christian boarding school in Chibok, in Borno state in the north east of the country, by Boko Haram. They were driven off into the Sambisa forest, a stronghold for the terrorist group whose name translates, literally, as 'Western education is sinful.'
Some of the girls managed to escape, however, the numbers of girls missing still vary – this interesting blog by The Washington Post goes into the discrepancies, which vary from 187 to 276. But the important factor remains at the top of activists' prioritie – the girls need to be returned to their families. Protests to #BringOurGirlsBack have been organised and attended around the world, with more to follow.
The White House has finally condemned the mass kidnap as 'an outrage' however, we're still waiting on official word from Downing Street.
The Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, made his first comment on the girls' kidnap last week (over 14 days since the girls had gone missing), speaking also of a bomb blast in Abuja, Nigeria's capital which killed 70 people: 'The recent atrocities by terrorists, particularly the Nyanya Motor park bombing of mainly working-class citizens, as well as the cruel abduction of some innocent girls, our future mothers and leaders in a very horrific and despicable situation in Borno State, is quite regrettable.
Uh – future mothers? These girls, aged 16-18, were at school, learning, so they could be more than just mothers. Just FYI.
The president added that there are now moves to get something done: 'The government is constantly reviewing and upgrading mechanisms to curb this mindless act and together, with the cooperation of the citizenry, we shall triumph.'
Well, let's hope so.
As for the protests? The president's wife, Patience Jonathan, has this to say about them: 'You are playing games. Don't use school children and women for demonstrations again. Keep it to Borno, let it end there.'
Ugh.
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Picture: PA
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.