Boko Haram rejected claims from
Nigeria’s military that it has been routed by a four-nation offensive in a
video released online on Tuesday, which does not show the group’s leader, Abubakar
Shekau.
The unidentified speaker, his face
obscured by a headscarf, instead called Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, who
have been battling the Islamists, “the lying coalition partners”.
“Most of our territory is still
under our control,” said the speaker in the 10-minute message which was posted
on the video-sharing site YouTube.
The video bears the logo “Islamic
State in West Africa” and follows the Nigerian militants’ pledge of allegiance
in an audio message in March to the IS group, that has overrun large parts of
Syria and Iraq.
– Shekau absent –
The message is the first video
released by Boko Haram since February, when Shekau was shown in high definition
footage and vowed to disrupt Nigeria’s elections.
He has featured prominently in most
of the group’s videos over the last three years and his absence in the latest
message will likely stir further debate on his whereabouts or possible death.
Nigeria’s military has previously
claimed to have killed Shekau only for him then to pop up on another video. The
authorities have explained such appearances away by saying that the role of
“Shekau” was filled by various lookalike insurgents.
Analysts have typically viewed Boko
Haram as a factionalised group, with a relatively weak central command
structure.
It is possible that the movement
towards the IS group in the Middle East followed a split among the Nigerian
militants and that Shekau — if he is still alive — has lost a degree of
control.
But solid information concerning
power struggles within Boko Haram has been scant to non-existent, so the
current make-up of the group is largely unknown.
– ‘False propoganda’ –
The speaker in the new message
appears in front of two pick-up trucks, with four other gunmen visible in the
background.
He speaks in the Hausa language that
is dominant in northern Nigeria with Arabic and English subtitles shown below.
An AK-47 rifle rests on his chest as
he seeks to rebuke the claims of successes made in recent weeks by the
coalition.
“The armies claim through the media
that they captured our towns and that they assaulted Sambisa (forest) and
defeated us,” he said, referring to the bushland area in Nigeria’s northeast
Borno state that has been an Islamist stronghold.
“I swear by Allah that I am talking
right now from Sambisa… Here in Sambisa you can travel more than four to five
hours under the black flag of Islam by car or by motorbike.”
“We are uncountable in Sambisa. We
are thousands of Mujahedeen here,” he further said, dismissing claims of the
insurgents’ defeat as “false propaganda”.
– Scenes of violence –
The latter parts of the video
include depictions of gruesome violence, including executions of apparent
civilians and one man in a Nigeria police uniform, who are shot at close range.
“President of Nigeria Jonathan” is mentioned,
referring to Goodluck Jonathan, who handed over power to Muhammadu Buhari last
Friday, two months after the latter’s victory in elections on March 28.
In his inaugural speech as president
on Friday, Buhari described Boko Haram as “mindless” and “godless” and vowed to
demolish the group during his tenure.
But the Islamists struck hours after
Buhari was sworn in, launching a series of attacks since Saturday in Borno’s
capital Maiduguri, deploying suicide bombers and fighting armed with
rocket-propelled grenades.
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