In April 2012,the Islamic group Boko Haram threatened
to start bombing telecom facilities across the country on account of what they
termed alleged betrayal.
The threat by the sect to attack GSM operational bases
is coming on the heels of a similar threat by militants in the Niger Delta,
under the auspices of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND)
against the GSM operators then too.
Members of the Joint Task Force (JTF), who are
monitoring activities of the sect, are said to have resolved in the past to
focus attention on GSM operational bases and repeater stations, following
information that the Boko Haram sect had resolved to also attack GSM repeater
stations. Places under threat are said to include “Some backbone repeater
stations of the GSM providers, especially those stations that are seen as
providing help to security agencies which have been on the trail of and
tracking some foot soldiers.”.
That threat has finally manifested ,a ccording to CKN
Nigeria exclusive investigation. In the past few days,Boko Haram has destroyed
19 base stations in Maiduguri belonging to Airtel, MTN, Etisalat and Visafone.
It was also gathered that the dreaded Islamic sect has
also bombed MTN regional office in Maiduguri.
As if that was not enough, it extended its activities to
Bauchi and Kano States where two base stations in each of the states were also
destroyed.
The whole exercise according to insider source within
the industry that spoke with us was aimed at crippling the activities of the telecommunication
companies in the area in order to jeopardize the communication power of the
Military operatives who in recent times have been able to curtail the
activities of the sect through robust communication monitoring.
Our attempt to speak to any of the telecoms operators
and the Nigerian Communications Commission to react to this new development was
unsuccessful..CKN NIgeria