Islamist militant group Boko Haram on Monday released a new video purporting to show at least 14 of the Chibok schoolgirls whose mass kidnapping nearly four years ago became a symbol of Nigeria’s brutal conflict.
But despite a concerted global campaign for their release, and talks between the government and the militants, the girls shown in the recording vowed not to return to their parents.
The 20-minute-long video is the first since May last year, when another woman who also claimed to be among the 219 seized from the town in Borno state said she wanted to stay.
Both videos will compound the suffering of the girls’ families and friends but also indicate the extent to which they may have become influenced by their captors. All of those who were shown on camera were wearing black or blue hijabs and at least three were carrying babies.
One of the students, her face covered by a veil, said: “We are the Chibok girls that you cry for us to return to you. By the grace of Allah, we will not return to you.
“Poor souls, we pity our other Chibok girls who chose to return to Nigeria. Allah blessed you and brought you to the caliphate for you to worship your creator. “But instead you chose to return to unbelief.” It was not clear when or where the latest message, in Hausa and the local Chibok language, was recorded or whether those who appeared on camera were under duress. The woman said Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau had “married us off”.
“We live in comfort. He provides us with everything. We lack nothing,” she added. Shekau was also seen, firing a heavy machine gun and making a 13-minute-long sermon in which he said the remaining girls had “understood the folly” of secular education.
