Boko Haram denies Nigeria cease-fire, says abducted girls married off

By Rafiu Ajakaye

LAGOS

Boko Haram militants have denied any cease-fire deal with the Nigerian government, saying that the abducted girls have all been married off and would not return again.

"There is no cease-fire with the government....It is all lies," a man purported to be militant leader Abubakar Shekau said in a new video late Friday.

"Anybody who says plans are afoot for the release of the girls is just daydreaming. They have been married off. They have all accepted Islam," he said.

In April, Boko Haram made international headlines after abducting over 200 schoolgirls in northeastern Borno State.

Only 57 of the girls have since managed to escape their captors.

The new video, if genuine, creates a credibility problem for the Nigeria government which had repeatedly claimed in the past weeks that it has sealed with a cease-fire with the militant group.

The deal reportedly stipulated the safe return of the abducted schoolgirls in exchange for detained militants.

The government claimed that the talks with the militants are being mediated by the Chadian government in Ndjamena.

There was no comment from the Nigerian government on the Boko Haram video.

Nearly all analysts have cast serious doubts on the alleged cease-fire between the government and Boko Haram, and raised posers for the government to answer.

Militants have mounted several daring attacks in northern Nigeria since the announcement of the cease-fire, resulting in multiple deaths and capture of towns.

Nigeria has battled Boko Haram for the past five years, with thousands killed and millions displaced by the violence, which has been largely limited to the country's volatile northeastern region.

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