The need for the Guards Brigade to reinforce security in and around the Presidential Villa may be more compelling now as the acclaimed ‘leader’ of the Boko Haram sect, Abubakar Shekau, has threatened to attack President Muhammadu Buhari and other regional leaders.
In the latest video, Shekau also vowed to attack the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, as well as the Acting Director, Army Public Relations (DAPR), Col. Sani Usman.
The latest video is coming few days after the controversial sect leader purportedly spoke, to refute claims that his deputy, Abu Musab Al-barnawi, had assumed the leadership of the local terrorist group, which had threatened the sovereignty of the Nigerian State.
Flanked by heavily armed fighters, Shekau referred to President Buhari and others, as “infidels”, while challenging the military to be prepared for what he suggests, may be the most vicious attack in the country.
He also indicated in the video that was recorded in Arabic and Hausa languages, his plot to extend the planned attacks to other parts of the world. A transcript of the video has been published by an online medium, Premium Times.
Shekau said: “To you, President Buhari, very soon you will see us inside your home, the presidential palace. You will hear from us right in there by the will of God. “Abuja will hear from us very soon.
We will demolish infidels and bring down the green white green and replace it with our flag. And under that flag, we shall worship Allah and we shall bring justice to all of you. “Don’t think it is only this weapon that will aid us to destroy you, but Allah will assist us to do this.
Die you all in your rage. We are out to wage war on the world.” The re-appearance of the leader of Boko Haram at this time, no doubt, introduces a new twist to the claim by the military, that he (Shekau) had died over a year ago, during a counter- terrorism operation in the North-East.In the meantime, the seeming leadership crisis besetting the sect has yet to abate, as Shekau reaffirmed his control over the group, whose bloodletting campaign had resulted in the deaths of over 15,000 people. This was as he restated his group’s allegiance to the Islamic State (IS).
Part of the video translation reads: “This is a message from the group of Jamaatu Ahlil sunna liddawati wal jihad in West Africa of the Islamic caliphate to all the Jihadists of the world; especially to Abubakar Albagdadi.
“News has recently come to us through the media outlets, including those of the infidels. The news was that someone has been made leader or vicegerent of our movement in West Africa.
But we are telling you that the appointed per-son has no qualifications to become our leader. We have listened and heard from them and their comment and how they tried to defame Ahlil Sunna wal jamaaa and we are further convinced that such a person cannot become our leader. And we cannot follow the one that is not of Ahlil Sunna wal jamaaa.
“Besides, our leader, Abubakar Shekau, has sent you an 8-point message detailing why the person you appointed cannot lead because he is one of those that are called Irjai. You (Albagdadhi) have sent a message back to our leader asking for the meaning of Irjai, which he explained to you and you have failed to get back to us till date…. “We are also warning you the infidels of the West African countries that in no distant time, you are going to be visited with a calamity from us that will marvel you all for a long time to come. We will shock the world very soon.
Watch out for us. “Especially, the Chief of Army staff, General Buratai and the army spokesman, Kukasheka; we are going to show you our strength in Nigeria. The world should know that we are no longer out to fight Nigeria, but our battle is of the entire world. And the battle has just begun. It is going to be a fresh battle for you soldiers of Nigeria.” But the Presidency said it would not dignify the group with a response.
“The office of the president is a hallowed institution. You don’t expect Shekau to talk and the president to be responding,” Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, told New Telegraph.
The Director of Defence Information (DDI), Brig.- Gen. Rabe Abubakar, and the DAPR, did not respond to text messages sent to them and did not pick calls to their phone lines.
– New Telegraph
