Ethnic Fulani herders received the demand from local farmers after the women were seized near the town of Chibok,about 622km northeast of the Nigerian capital, Abuja, said Abba Aji Khalil, chairman of a vigilante group in Borno state. The june 8 Kidnappings came two months after the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls by the Boko Haram Islamist group from a school in Chibok "The terrorists were able to pass across the information to some local farmers who in turn passed the message to some" Fulani herdmen' he said. "The Fulani herdsmen told some of our members that they are not ready to release their cattle to the Boko Haram members as they are not sure" that a swap will happen, he said
Boko Haram has waged a five-year insurgency against Nigeria's gonernment that has killed thousands of people. The group, whose name roughly translates to "western education is a sin" in the local Hausa language, seeks to impose shariah, or Islamic law in Africa's biddest economy and largest oil producer
Abubakar Shekau the leader of Boko Haram ,has threatened in video messages to sell the scholgirls in "marry them off and hold them until the Nigerian government frees imprisoned members of his group President Goodluck Jonathan said last month that he whouldn't enter talks about swapping Boko Haram detainees for the girls.