Cameroon has refuted allegations that some of the missing students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State have been sold for marriage within its borders.
The issue of the abducted girls and the Islamist sect Boko Haram, have generated a heated debate in Cameroon, more than any other issue has in recent times in the West African State.
When the girls were kidnapped on April 14, several media reports suggested that some of them had been transferred to Cameroon and Chad, with some saying the girls had been sold at $12 each. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau had vowed to sell the girls in a video released by the group.
Muslims in Cameroon have therefore been calling on fellow adherents of Islam not to marry any of these girls should they be offered to them.
Muslim leader, Nchotu Soule, said anyone seen acting suspiciously with a girl should be reported to the authorities.
“The prophet Mohammed insists that Islam is a religion of peace. Any true faithful of Islam will want to reject anything that comes from the Boko Haram.
“They are using our Muslim brothers here to be able to carry out their activities,” he saidz.
In his reaction, Cameroon’s Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakari, said he was shocked by accusations that Cameroon was not collaborating with Nigeria to free the girls from their captors.
“We insist that allegations from Nigeria that a part of the 200 young female students recently kidnapped in the North-East of Nigeria would have been transferred to Cameroon to be forced into marriage to members of the Boko Haram sect are fully unfounded.
“Cameroon will never ever serve as a support base for destabilisation activities towards other countries.”
The minister said Cameroon was a victim of what he called ‘rather unfortunate and heinous crimes’ in Nigeria.
