THE Boko Haram sect has said it intends to bring down the government
and "devour" President Goodluck Jonathan within three months, its
purported leader said in his second al Qaeda-style video posted on the
Internet on Thursday.
The 14-minute video of Abubakar Shekau seen on YouTube belittled
Jonathan for saying two weeks ago that the security situation would be
under control by the middle of this year.
"You, Jonathan, cannot stop us, instead we will devour you in the
three months like you are boasting," Shekau said in the video entitled
"message to Goodluck Jonathan", flanked by four masked men holding
rifles.
"We are proud soldiers of Allah, we will never give up as we fight
the infidels. We will emerge as winners ... we will finish you and end
your government," Shekau said, speaking in Arabic and in the
Hausa-language spoken in northern Nigeria.
Shekau has now posted two videos and one audio recording on the
Internet this year, suggesting he wants to solidify his position as the
sect's leader.
There were brief efforts last month at dialogue using mediators
between the government and the sect but details were leaked to the press
and talks collapsed. A Boko Haram spokesman has since said they will
never negotiate.
Although almost daily small scale shootings continue in the
northeast, a military crackdown and some high profile sect arrests in
recent weeks prompted a pause in big coordinated attacks, since 186
people were killed in bomb and gun strikes in Nigeria's second city of
Kano in January.
It was hoped the sect had been weakened but on Easter Sunday a car
bomb killed at least 36 people after security officials prevented the
vehicle entering a church compound in the northern town of Kaduna and
another large car bomb was discovered undetonated in Kano.
No group has taken responsibility for the Kaduna attack but security
experts believe Boko Haram may want to distance itself from the strike,
which appeared to fail to hit its target and killed many Muslims.
Shekau said in Thursday's video that Boko Haram would continue to
target anyone who killed its members or aided in their arrest, whether
they be Christian or Muslim.
Meanwhile, barely one week after the killing of nine Igbos and three
Kanuris at the Maiduguri Monday Market, unknown gunmen, again, stormed
the market on Thursday, killing one person and injuring many others.
A source in the market told Nigerian Tribune that just as it happened
last week, the gunmen, after opening fire at their target, also made
away with huge sums of money.
Also confirming the incident, the spokesman for the Joint Task Force
(JTF) on Operation Restore Order in Borno, Lieutenant-Colonel Shamsu
Musa, said, “It is true one person was shot dead by unknown gunmen in
Monday Market, Maiduguri city at about 12.45 p.m.”
According to him, the general area where the incident happened had been cordoned off and searched.
Lieutenant-Colonel Shamsu also said that foot patrol had been
intensified to avoid stampede, as troops also assisted people to get out
of the market while effort was ongoing to arrest the culprits.
He said, so far, no one was reported injured by their record, no weapon was found or recovered and no arrests made.
Officials of the Maiduguri Monday Market were not available for
comments, as people were seen rushing back home at the time of filing
this report.
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