Boko Haram new video: Anger trails threat to capture Buhari

It’s biggest joke of the century – Military

From Desmond Mgboh, Kano, Molly Kilete, Abuja, Taiwo Amodu

Amid anger, the military and prominent Nigerians yesterday dismissed the threat by Boko Haram to capture President Muhammadu Buhari.
Insurgent group, Boko Haram, had in a new video posted yesterday,  boasted that it would seize Buhari with ‘our hands.’
Eminent Nigerians including Second Republic governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abubakar Tsav and a security expert said the threat was laughable.
The terrorists had in a video released on Youtube on Tuesday said they would seize the President.
The military described the threat as the biggest joke of the century.
Reacting to the threat yesterday, Mr. Tsav said: “They are bluffing; They don’t have the capacity to actualize their intention and ambition.
“It’s a reminder to our security agencies to beef up their act and strengthen security around the President.
“Well, they are only reminding the security agencies to be on the alert because if by chance, they’re able to achieve their aim.
“But, I think they are bluffing. They don’t have the capacity to achieve their aim.”
Alhaji Musa dismissed the declaration of the group as a mere threat, as he noted that the group was seeking attention.
“It is a mere propaganda,  they don’t have the capacity to do that. Remember he is the Head of State. It  is a mere propaganda to gain attention, they are already losing the grounds.’’
A security expert, Colonel Hassan Stan-Labo (rtd), has described the threat as a propaganda strategy coined to deceive Nigerians.
He told Daily Sun on phone that the insurgents have been degraded  in terms of capability and can no longer achieve their plans.
He described the threat as laughable, explaining that the “President is like the queen of the bees in a bee colony and once the threat is getting closer, it will be relocated.”
When contacted yesterday, the military described the rant as the”biggest joke and dream of the century”.
Director of Defence Information, Brig. General Abubakar Rabe, described the latest video as “another attempt by the remnants of the insurgents to remind Nigerians that the group once existed.”
Rabe, while attributing the threat by the group as that of an empty vessel that makes the loudest noise, dared the terrorists to come near the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and see what the military is made of.
According to him, “the only ground the Boko Haram can go into and hide and pretend to be alive is through the social media because it is everybody’s home without tracing the source.
He said: “Moreso, which Boko Haram? I believe the issue of the group is near ending by the special grace of God.
He said, “the video is a complete sign of weakness and poses no threat to us .
“The so-called video is an attempt by the remnants to remind us that there was once Boko Haram elements. Empty vessel makes the highest sound,” he said.
The group said it was using the video to demonstrate that it remains a strong force.
The terrorists have lost several territories lately as the Nigerian military continues to reduce their capacities to attack like before.
The group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, did not appear in the video, but the narrator, who claimed to be his deputy and whose name was not mentioned, represented him at the gathering.
In the video, which was recorded in composite to capture two Eid grounds, the group stated its willingness to continue its jihad against Nigeria.
The group also called the President an infidel and threatened to capture him.
The message reads: “Brothers, this is our Eid for the year 1437 AH (2016) under the leadership of our leader, Abu Muhammad Abubakar Ibn Mohammad Ashakawi (Shekau).
“We extend our greetings to our people and fighters all over the world; and to our leader, the leader of Jama’atu ahlus-sunnah lidda await wal jihad, Imam Abubakar Shekau.
“We pray that Allah should keep us together under this umbrella and cause. May Allah guide us to follow the teachings of prophet Muhammad (SAW). May Allah make us triumph over all the infidels of this world. May Allah protect our leader, mallams, wives and everybody altogether.
“Our message to the infidels, who are fighting us; especially their leader, the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, is that he should know that we are still in this religion. And like they keep saying that they have defeated us; it is indeed not true, because we are in good health and succeeding in our cause. We are very strong and doing very well.
“Buhari is saying that he will finish us. Let him know that before he said so, other infidels said so before now and they couldn’t.
“So this infidel by the name, Buhari, saying that he will finish us, he should know that by the grace of Allah, he cannot finish us. Rather, he will die, he will die, he will die.
“Our leader, who is leading us, Imam Jamatu ahlus Sunnah lidda awat (Shekau), may Allah continue to protect him for us. By the will of Allah, under the leadership of our leader (Shekau), we will capture Buhari with our hands,” it added.
The congregation now disperses from the mosque chanting, Allah Akbar. The Imam steps out from the mosque for a photo shoot behind the group’s flag and says:
“My last message is to you Buratai (Tukur, Nigeria’s Army Chief), Kukasheka (Sani, spokesperson of Nigerian Army) and the rest of the infidels.
“You should know that this is a brand new video which we recorded today, the 12th of September 2016, using the infidel’s calendar.
“It is a new video, not an old one. It is a brand new video; (we hear) you are saying you will finish us with your fighter jets.
“By the grace of God, you will see what we will do to you.
“Under the leadership of our leader, Shekau, we will step further henceforth, and will destroy what we never destroyed before.
“We are ready and even stronger now. We will go to where we never were before now and destroy what we never destroyed before now,” it said.
The video came a month after the sect released a similar one which purportedly showed how the  military coordinated an aerial attack on its hideout that left some of the abducted Chibok girls dead.
In its reaction, the military declared three people wanted for allegedly taking part in its release.
The new video also came a few days after rumours on social media that the Federal Government had already commenced a prisoner swap with the sect. The rumours said Kabiru Sokoto, a leader of the sect. who was convicted for the 2013 Christmas Day bombing and jailed for five years, had been released.
The prisons authorities debunked the rumour and insisted that Sokoto was still in prison.
Boko Haram had indicated willingness for a prisoner-swap with the government in order to release the remaining kidnapped Chibok girls, a move the government has said it was willing to consider.