It is now certain that President Goodluck Jonathan will never be able to #bringbackourgirls.

What a pity! The whole campaign, with international flavour, has been a waste of time as Abubakar Shekau, the Boko Haram leader said in a new video today that the 219 girls captured in April have been married after their conversion to Islam.

The schoolgirls were captured on 14 April in Chibok, Borno state. They have not been seen since then.

Shekau also denied what observers have long suspected: his group has never agreed to a ceasefire with the Nigerian government.

In the new video obtained on Friday by AFP, Shekau described the Nigerian government claims as a lie. He also ruled out future talks.

The Boko Haram leader also claimed to be holding a German national, who was kidnapped in the northeast Nigerian state of Adamawa earlier this year.

Shekau’s claim that they were “holding your German hostage” is the first claim of responsibility for the abduction, which happened in Gombi, about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the Adamawa state capital, Yola, on July 16.

The German foreign ministry in Berlin said it did not want to comment when contacted by AFP.