Suspected Islamist militants in northeastern Nigeria demanded 40 head of
\ncattle as ransom for each of the 20 women they abducted earlier this week,
\na local vigilante group leader said.<\/p>\n
Ethnic Fulani herders received the demand from local farmers after the
\nwomen were seized near the town of Chibok, about 386 miles (622
\nkilometers) northeast of the Nigerian capital, Abuja, said Abba Aji
\nKhalil, chairman of a vigilante group in Borno state. The June 8
\nkidnappings came two months after the abduction of more than 200
\nschoolgirls by the Boko Haram Islamist group from a school in Chibok.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe terrorists were able to pass across the information to some local
\nfarmers, who in turn passed the message to some Fulani herdsmen,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThe Fulani herdsmen told some of our members that they are not ready to
\nrelease their cattle to the Boko Haram members as they are not sure\u201d that
\na swap will happen, he said.<\/p>\n
Boko Haram has waged a five-year insurgency against Nigeria\u2019s government
\nthat has killed thousands of people. The group, whose name means \u201cwestern
\neducation is a sin\u201d in the local Hausa language, seeks to impose Shariah,
\nor Islamic law, in Africa\u2019s biggest economy and largest oil producer.<\/p>\n
Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram, has threatened in video
\nmessages to sell the schoolgirls in \u201cmarkets,\u201d marry them off and hold
\nthem until the Nigerian government frees imprisoned members of his group.
\nPresident Goodluck Jonathan said last month that he wouldn\u2019t enter talks
\nabout swapping Boko Haram detainees for the girls.<\/p>\n
The U.S. and U.K. sent teams to Nigeria to help the government find the
\nschoolgirls, and Israel and France have pledged assistance. The West
\nAfrican nation\u2019s military said last month it knows the location of the
\nschoolgirls and is assessing how to rescue them.<\/p>\n
Bloomberg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Suspected Islamist militants in northeastern Nigeria demanded 40 head of cattle as ransom for each of the 20 women they abducted earlier this week, a local vigilante group leader said.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n