Boko Haram threatens more attacks, disowns FG panel •Foreign countries collude with sect -COAS

Tribune

28 September 2011

Boko Haram threatens more attacks, disowns FG panel •Foreign countries collude with sect -COAS

THE Boko Haram sect, on Tuesday, vowed to continue its attacks until its demands are met.

In an apparent reaction to the report submitted to the Federal Government by the Ambassador Gaji Galtimari-led committee, which called for dialogue and negotiation with the group, the spokesman of the group, Abu Qaqa, in a telephone interview with newsmen in Maiduguri, distanced the group from the report and vowed to continue the attacks until their earlier demands were met.

The Galtimari committee submitted its report to government on Monday, with recommendations aimed at putting a stop to the spate of bombings and killings being perpetrated by the sect in the country.

The Boko Haram spokesperson said that the group was not satisfied with the members of the ''so-called committee'' and that those who were advising the Federal Government to involve the Sultan of Sokoto and some emirs in the North-East were doing so at their own peril. According to him, the group regarded the Sultan as government official and not the leader of the Muslim Ummah in Nigeria.

Their demands, according to the spokesman, include severe punishment for those who extra-judicially killed their leader, Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf and other members of the sect in the July 2009 uprising, reconstruction of their places of worship, which were destroyed by security agencies in Maiduguri and other states of the federation, immediate release of all their members, who were detained, while appropriate compensation must be paid to them for all their properties destroyed by security agencies in the country.

The group also warned the general public, particularly the press, to desist from taking any statement from Ali Tishau. According to them, Tishau was initially not their member, as he was sent by security agencies to investigate their activities, but converted to Islam and became a full member but later opted out and is now out to tarnish their image.

Meanwhile, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant-General Azubuike Ihejirika, has revealed that some foreign countries are in league with members of the deadly Islamic sect, Boko Haram  and are providing them with facilities for terror.

Although the army chief did not name the foreign countries involved, he said Boko Haram members received funding and training from such nations.