The suspected leader of Nigerian
Islamist extremist group Boko Haram,
Abubakar Shekau, said in a YouTube
message today that the sect’s
spokesman, Abu Qaqa, is still alive. In
a nine-minute video in Hausa
language, Shekau claimed that 10 wives
of Boko Haram members are currently
being detained by Nigerian officials, an
action
he described as “demeaning,” and
threatened a round of reprisals on
wives of government officials. In the
video, the leader of Jama’atu Alus
Sunna lilda wal Jihad, also known as
Boko Haram also threatened violence
over a recent anti-Islam video which
denigrates Prophet Mohammed and
has sparked widespread protests in the
Muslim world.
"First, insults against the prophet, evil
plots against him, making
blasphemous movies against him, all
these will do no harm to Islam,"
Abubakar Shekau says in the video
which appears to have been posted on
Sunday.
"Anybody plotting this will surely pay
for it. Everybody knows what this
statement entails. Everybody should
wait and see what we will do regarding
this," he adds in the Hausa language
spoken in Nigeria's mainly Muslim
north.
The video could not be independently
authenticated, but it closely resembled
previous such clips of Shekau, who has
been in hiding since a 2009 crackdown
by Nigeria's military on Boko Haram.
Nigeria marked 52 years of
independence from Britain on Monday,
but Shekau makes no reference to it in
the video.
A number of protests over the anti-
Islam film have been held in Nigeria's
mainly Muslim north organised by a
Shiite Muslim group not connected to
Boko Haram, with no violent incidents
occurring.
The crudely made "Innocence of
Muslims" movie, produced by US-
based extremist Christians, has
however sparked angry and at times
violent demonstrations across the
globe.
In the short video, an AK-47 assault
rifle leant on the wall next to him,
Shekau also threatens Nigerian
authorities, says he is prepared to die
and denies government assertions that
there has been dialogue with his
group.
He also claims the purported
spokesman for Boko Haram, who goes
by the alias Abul Qaqa, is still alive
despite claims from Nigeria's military
that he was killed by security forces
some two weeks ago.
Boko Haram's insurgency in northern
and central Nigeria is blamed for more
than 1,400 deaths since 2010.
The group has claimed to be fighting
for the creation of an Islamic state in
northern Nigeria, though its demands
have repeatedly shifted.
It is also thought to have a number of
factions with varying aims, with Shekau
believed to lead its main Islamist wing.
Criminal gangs and imitators are
believed to also have carried out
violence under the guise of the group.
Nigeria's government has claimed to
have engaged in back-channel talks
with the Islamists in a bid to end the
violence. Shekau denied this in the
video, while accusing authorities of
arresting members' wives and
threatening to take revenge.
"We have never sat down with anyone
in the name of dialogue ... Our people
are being killed and humiliated, while
on the other hand people are being
deceived with the issue of dialogue," he
says.
"By God, there is nothing like dialogue.
They are only killing us. We will never
abandon our faith because of that."
In a message directed at Nigerian secret
police officers, he says he will "slit your
throat."
"I'm alive, well and hearty. Nothing has
happened to me," he says. "I'm even
longing for death, you vagabond."
In June, the US State Department
labeled Shekau and two other Nigerian
extremists "global terrorists."
Washington has however so far
declined to label Boko Haram a
terrorist organisation, saying the group
did not appear homogeneous and that
the threat in any case remained
domestically focused.
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