--- title: Boko Haram Kidnapped Girls: Obama Rejects Ransom Payment in Nigeria description: White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the U.S. would not support ransom as a way to release more than 250 Nigerian schoolgirls canonical: https://time.com/97933/boko-haram-nigeria-ransom-obama/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-13T18:24:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:48:47.180Z article:section: Politics og:title: Boko Haram Kidnapped Girls: Obama Rejects Ransom Payment in Nigeria og:description: White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the U.S. would not support ransom as a way to release more than 250 Nigerian schoolgirls og:url: https://time.com/97933/boko-haram-nigeria-ransom-obama/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt31cf96e56c78e1f1/69868f19cd68485040094a15/boko-haram-girls.jpg?branch=production&width=1100&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1100 og:image:height: 619 og:image:alt: Kidnapped schoolgirls are seen at an unknown location in this still image taken from an undated video released by Boko Haram og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Boko Haram Kidnapped Girls: Obama Rejects Ransom Payment in Nigeria twitter:description: White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the U.S. would not support ransom as a way to release more than 250 Nigerian schoolgirls twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt31cf96e56c78e1f1/69868f19cd68485040094a15/boko-haram-girls.jpg?branch=production&width=1100&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # U.S. Says No Ransom For Kidnapped Nigerian Girls > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller May 13, 2014 6:24 PM UTC  Kidnapped schoolgirls are seen at an unknown location in this still image taken from an undated video released by Boko Haram. Kidnapped schoolgirls are seen at an unknown location in this still image taken from an undated video released by Boko Haram. Reuters by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller May 13, 2014 6:24 PM UTC The United States would oppose any ransom payment or prisoner exchange to free more than 250 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped last month by the extremist group Boko Haram, the Obama Administration said Tuesday. “It is the policy of the United States to deny kidnappers the benefits of their criminal acts, and that includes ransoms or concessions,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters when asked whether Obama would support negotiations with Boko Haram, which abducted the girls last month. The Nigerian government also [rejected releasing prisoners](http://time.com/97197/nigeria-kidnapped-girls-boko-haram/) this week. “What I can tell you is that we’re focused on working with the Nigerian government to locate and bring home those girls,” Carney said. “That includes a team of \[U.S. officials in the country\]. It also includes manned reconnaissance flights that I can confirm we are conducting in cooperation with the Nigerian government.” The kidnapping has sparked global condemnation of Boko Haram and criticism of Nigeria’s government for how it handled the aftermath. The U.S. recently sent a team of officials from the FBI, the Department of State and the Department of Defense to aid in the search. Carney wouldn’t say whether the team of U.S. hostage negotiators in Nigeria wold encourage the government to negotiate with Boko Haram. Some senior lawmakers are [floating the idea of sending special forces](http://time.com/97315/should-the-u-s-send-in-special-forces-to-bring-back-our-girls/) to help find the girls, who appeared for the first time since their kidnapping in [a video released by Boko Haram](http://time.com/95932/boko-haram-video-nigeria-kidnapped-girls/) on Monday. “The Nigerians ought to be handling things in their own backyard, but frankly it’s a big vast country with a bunch of bad guys acting like cowboys and running around,” Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) told TIME. “They can’t handle it. I think that’s why we’re treading very carefully, but we’ve got to be more forceful than what we’ve been thus far.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/97933/boko-haram-nigeria-ransom-obama/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/97933/boko-haram-nigeria-ransom-obama/"},"headline":"U.S. Says No Ransom For Kidnapped Nigerian Girls","datePublished":"2014-05-13T18:24:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:48:47.180Z","description":"White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the United States would not support ransom or prisoner exchange as part of a deal to release more than 250 Nigerian schoolgirls who have been held captive by the extremist group Boko Haram since last month.","url":"https://time.com/97933/boko-haram-nigeria-ransom-obama/","keywords":["Foreign Policy","White House","Nigeria","Boko Haram"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt31cf96e56c78e1f1/69868f19cd68485040094a15/boko-haram-girls.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt31cf96e56c78e1f1/69868f19cd68485040094a15/boko-haram-girls.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Kidnapped schoolgirls are seen at an unknown location in this still image taken from an undated video released by Boko Haram","caption":"Kidnapped schoolgirls are seen at an unknown location in this still image taken from an undated video released by Boko Haram","creditText":"Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/foreign-policy/","name":"Foreign Policy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/97933/boko-haram-nigeria-ransom-obama/","name":"U.S. Says No Ransom For Kidnapped Nigerian Girls"}}]}] ```