TheCable

Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, has released yet another video asking the Nigerian government to free its detained members in exchange for the abducted girls.

TheCable reported last week that the insurgents might be seeking a deal along this line before releasing the girls.

In the video, Shekau said: “These girls you’ve occupied yourselves with… we’ve liberated them. They are now Muslims.

“It is now four to five years since you arrested our brothers and they are still in your prisons. You’ve done so many things to them.

“We’ll treat the girls well as Islam allows. We’ll never release them until our brothers are released.”

Shekau had previously threatened to sell the girls in the slave market, saying they were supposed to marry and have children and not go to school.

But his latest demand suggests that he is more conciliatory.

Boko Haram has freed or sought to free its detained members since the insurgency started.

Recently, there was a shootout at the head office of the State Security Service (SSS) close to the presidential villa, Abuja, when some Boko Haram detainees allegedly tried to escape.