234 schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria by Islamist militants could be released in exchange for jailed comrades, a former Boko Haram negotiator has reportedly said.
The group snatched the girls from their boarding school in Chibok in the lawless Borno region in the north of the country. A former mediator of the group has told the Telegraph he believes the video, where Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau threatens to sell the girls as slaves, shows he plans to use them as ‘bargaining chips’ rather than kill them.
Shehu Sani says he believes that the footage, released on Monday, was an attempt to persuade the Nigerian government into a prisoner trade.
He told the newspaper: ‘From my knowledge of the group, to have him saying that he will sell them is proof that this issue can be resolved.
‘The group is most likely to want to attach some kind of conditions to the girls being released, such as the freeing of some of their own prisoners.
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