July 13, 2014
A man who described himself as a teacher/scholar inside the Boko Haram camp on Tuesday, July 8th gave this condition while speaking with British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) World Radio Service.
Below is the text of the man’s direct speech on the BBC:
“Yes we want the Nigerian government to release our members. As our leader Abubakar Shekau promised to the media, if today the government releases our members, tomorrow or the next day we promise you can see all of them (the girls). We would release them tomorrow or the next day.” he told BBC World Radio.
“I am telling you a fact, they are in a state of amnesty. They don’t have a problem. Some of them have beliefvedin Islam, some of them say they would not convert to Islam but we didn’t differentiate them, we treated them equally. They are healthy, feeding and all. We didn’t differentiate between them at all, because, Allah commands us to treat them equally. Some of them say they would not come back to Islam, we asked them to stay, no problem. There is no forcing in Islam but some of them who are not Muslims are converting to Islam but we are not differentiating them. If you see them now, you would see that they don’t have any problem”he said
“Under Islam, killing children and women is not accepted you understand, but if they are fighting you, then you must fight them but if they are not fighting you, then it is not accepted whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims. Do not fight them, it is not accepted but if you bomb somewhere or make arrests somewhere, it will affect them but killing children and women is not accepted.” He added.
