Islamic sect, Boko Haram, has claimed responsibility
for June 25 bomb attacks in Lagos and Abuja which claimed several lives.Five
persons died in the Lagos explosion which occurred very close to Folawiyo tank
farm while that of Abuja which went off in a shopping mall killed 22
persons.Abubakar ShekauBoko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, in a 16-minute video
obtained by AFP yesterday also mocks the social media and protest campaign,
BringBackOurGirls, which emerged after the Islamists kidnapped more than 200
schoolgirls on April 14 from Chibok.The girls, whose abduction has drawn
unprecedented attention to Boko Haram’s five-year rebellion, are not pictured
in the video, which was given to AFP through similar channels as past
messages.One previous recording showed more than 100 of the hostages, some of
whom are Christian, reciting Muslim prayers. Shekau also said his loyalists
carried out twin car bombings in May in Jos and a June attack at a college in
Kano.Shekau claims Abuja, Lagos bomb attacks“We were the ones who detonated the
bomb in filthy Abuja,” Shekau said in the video referring to a June 25 attack
on a popular shopping centre in Abuja that killed at least 22 people.Later that
day a huge explosion also rocked the Apapa, which the authorities blamed on a
cooking gas explosion, with no casualties.“A bomb went off in Lagos. I ordered
the bomber who went and detonated it,” Shekau says in the video, which shows
him flanked by at least 10 gunmen in front of two armoured personnel carriers
and two pick-up trucks. “You said it was a fire incident,” he added. “Well, if
you hide it from people you can’t hide it from Allah.”Shekau, in boasting about
the Lagos attack, incorrectly identifies the Governor of Lagos State, taunting
Adams Oshiomhole, who is in fact the Governor of Edo State. Lagos State is
governed by Babatunde Fashola.Declared a global terrorist by the United States
and sanctioned by the UN Security Council, Shekau is thought to have previously
claimed credit for attacks that he did not directly order.Near the beginning of
the video, Shekau calls several of the world’s most prominent Islamist
extremists his “brethren.”“May Allah protect you,” he said, listing IS chief,
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Al-Qaeda head Ayman al-Zawahiri, Taliban leader Mullah
Omar and several others.Speaking in English, Shekau recited the
BringBackOurGirls slogan used by activists to press for the release of
schoolgirls.“BringBackOurGirls… bring back our army,” he says, in what may be
reference to a previous offer that the hostages could be freed if Nigeria
releases book haram members held in custody
