Leader of Nigeria’s militant Boko Haram group has announced that a town in the north east of Nigeria seized by the insurgents earlier this month has been placed under the self-claimed “Islamic caliphate” known as ISIL or ISIS.
“Thanks be to Allah who gave victory to our brethren in (the town of) Gwoza and made it part of the Islamic caliphate,” Abubakar Shekau said in the 52-minute video obtained by Agence France Presse (AFP) on Sunday, August 24.
The announcement came barely 24 days after the capture of Gwoza town in Borno State by Boko Haram.
Defying Shekau’s claims, the Nigerian military announced in a statement the “sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Nigerian state is still intact”.
“The claim is empty. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Nigerian state is still intact. Any group of terrorists laying claim to any portion of the country will not be allowed to get away with the expression of delusion and crime,” the Defence Headquarters stated on its twitter account, Nigeria’s the Guardian reported.
“Appropriate military operations to secure that area from the activities of the bandits is still ongoing.”
However, Shekau claimed that Gwoza Local Council in the North East part of the country has already become an Islamic caliphate controlled by the Boko Haram sect.
“Allah has given us victory in the town of Gwoza; because we are determined to do God’s work. I’m making this speech because of the lies being spread always by the infidel government,” he said in the video.
A similar claim of joining the Islamic Caliphate was announced in a video last July by Shekau.
In the said video, Shekau voiced support for the leader of the Islamic State and the Levant (Isil) militants Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who in late June declared himself “the caliph” and “leader of Muslims everywhere”.
But there was no indication from Shekau in the latest video that he was associating himself with Baghdadi, whose Sunni Muslim fighters have taken over parts of Iraq and Syria.
In yesterday’s video, Shekau is shown wearing military fatigues, with a Kalashnikov rifle strapped to his body.
Flanked by four fighters, who are masked and armed, it is not clear when or where the video was filmed. Yet, another unidentified fighter who speaks later in the video vowed that Boko Haram would keep control of the area.
“By the grace of Allah we will not leave the town. We have come to stay,” said the militant wearing a green shirt and a white cap.
Boko Haram, a Hausa term meaning “Western education is sinful”, is loosely modeled on Afghanistan’s Taliban.
The militant group says it is fighting enemies who have wronged its members through violence, arrests or economic neglect and corruption.
It has been blamed for a campaign of shootings and bombings against security forces and authorities in the north since 2009.
But recently, the group has carried out attacks against Christians and Muslims alike.
Source: OnIslam