A self-confessed member of a terrorist group, Boko Haram, that abducted over 200 girls from their school’s dormitory in Chibok, Borno Sate, says the girls are in good state of health.
It has been 85 days since the girls were abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School.
In an interview with the BBC on Tuesday, the man, who admitted joining the sect in 2004, said the girls were in what he called “a state of amnesty” and that they were well fed and treated with utmost care.
He said that some of the girls had converted to the Islamic faith while those that refused to join Islam have not been forced to do so.
According to him, the group does not kill women and children intentionally, saying Islam does not permit that. “They are killed only when caught in the crossfire, as they go after their targets.
“I’m telling you this for a fact. They are in a state of amnesty. They don’t have a problem; some of them believe in Islam, some say they would not convert to Islam. We treat them equally. They are all healthy…. Some of them say they will not return to Islam. We tell them this is not a problem. There is no force in Islam. If you see them now, you’ll see that they don’t have any problems.”
Nigeria’s security agencies have been making efforts to rescue the girls and have stressed that they were being cautious to ensure that there would not be casualties while carrying out the rescue operation.
A military head said in May that the counter-terrorism troops had identified the location of the girls and that “they would be rescued soon”.
The terrorist group had in a video released days after the girls were abducted demanded for an exchange of the girls with their members held at different detention camps across Nigeria.
