IN retaliation for the arrest of
members’ wives and relatives, the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, announced
on Monday that it had kidnapped some women, young girls and children.
A BBC report quoted leader of the sect,
Sheikh Abubakar Shekau, to have said in a video just released that the sect was
holding the hostages until relatives of members in custody were released.
“If they do not leave our wives and
children, we will not leave them,” Shekau was quoted as saying. He was said to
have said that anyone taken by the group could begin a new life as a “servant,”
without going into detail.
The BBC report also said the video showed
women and children purportedly being held.
In the video, a Kalashnikov assault rifle sits over Shekau’s
right shoulder as he speaks while the background is covered with a rug. “It’s
unclear when the video was shot,” the report said.
“In the video, Mr. Shekau also
said the group was behind two recent attacks in the North-East, which left an
estimated 240 people dead.”
Reacting to the development, Director
of the Defence Information, Brig.- General Chris Olukolade,said on a telephone conversation that Boko Haram should
leave innocent civilians out of its conflict with the government.
Olukolade said, “We will continue to
do our jobs as enshrined in the constitution of this country. Nobody can
blackmail us; they (Boko Haram) should stop this criminal conduct.”
“They should stop terrorising
innocent people; we will not be blackmailed from doing our work.
“They should leave the innocent
civilians out of this. The military will continue to do its work to provide
security for Nigeria.”
However, there have been no cases of
abduction of women and children announced by the security agencies.
The BBC report equally said, “Mr. Shekau
confirmed that the group had carried out a series of attacks in recent weeks,
including a raid on May 7 by about 200 heavily-armed men on Bama village,
in Borno State, near Nigeria’s north-eastern border with Cameroon.
“We are the ones that carried out the
Bama attack,” he said.
Shekau also admitted that members of
the sect also carried out a “small operation” on the northern town of Baga on
April 16.
He equally dismissed claims that sect
members were killed in a shoot-out with security forces as “lies.”
“None of our people was killed in
Baga,” Shekau added.
The Nigerian Army had said its men
killed 30 Boko Haram members in Baga, while one soldier and six civilians also
died.
Human rights groups had accused the
security forces of retaliating with excessive force, killing nearly 200 people
and setting fire to many buildings in the town, an allegation the authorities
had denied.
In April, Boko Haram had released a
French family of seven that were abducted in Cameroon in the first cross-border
attack carried out by the group.
Reuters had quoted a confidential Nigerian government report, seen by
it, to have revealed that Boko Haram was paid more than $3m to free the
hostages.
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