‘No reconciliation’Boko Haram Leader blows hot in first video   BluePrint   By Ibrahim Sheme, Abuja

In the video, Boko Haram leader Abukakar Shekau, flanked by his body guards, as he reels out his group’s position on the government’s olive branch

Boko Haram, the Islamic militant group fighting the Nigerian government in order to establish Sharia law nationwide, has vowed to keep on fighting in spite of an offer of reconciliation made to it by President Goodluck Jonathan. It says the government has not fulfilled the terms of reconciliation as enunciated in the holy Qur’an.

Leader of the group, Malam Abubakar Shekau, announced the decision in a video clip he sent to Blueprint on Friday, saying the government must not expect his group to lay down its arms when its members are being hunted down and killed and ordinary people are being traumatised in Maiduguri city.

This is the first time the group, popularly known as Boko Haram but whose official name is Jama’atu Ahlis-Sunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, is releasing a video showing its leader, who was hitherto believed to have lost his life in the 2009 violence in Maiduguri in which hundreds of the group’s members were killed.

The man identified in the 5-minute video clip as Imam Abu Muhammad Abubakar Bin Muhammad Shekau was actually named by Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf as his deputy when the latter was being interrogated by soldiers after his capture in 2009. Yusuf was executed at the Borno State police headquarters allegedly by his police handlers, who are now being prosecuted at a court in Abuja for the killing.

The prosecution is regarded as part of the steps being taken by the Jonathan administration to mollify the militant group and end the bloodshed.

But Shekau claimed in the new video that whereas Islam has enjoined reconciliation between two warring parties, it has specified the conditions that must be met before such reconciliation can take place, pointing out that a non-Islamic system cannot impose conditions for reconciliation on Muslims.

Quoting from the Qur’an, he explained: “We know that in the Qur’an there are verses where it is said: ‘If you are offered reconciliation, you should accept it,’ but there are verses in the Qur’an where it is said: ‘If you are offered reconciliation, don’t accept it.’

“We know where those verses apply… We know them all; we have read them in the Qur’an. We are fully aware that in Islam there is a provision for reconciliation, but there are conditions for reconciliation. Only a Muslim knows when to reconcile with a non-Muslim; it is not the non-Muslim who should impose conditions for reconciliation on the Muslim.”

The Boko Haram leader pointed out that while the government was talking about reconciliation, it is at the same time persecuting the members of his group and other Muslims.

He claimed, for example, that the government has not done anything to punish those who massacred Muslims in Zonkwa, Kaduna State, during the sectarian violence following the general elections in April, and has been secretly torturing and killing Boko Haram members in the prisons and burying them in mass graves.

“You must not deceive us,” he told the government in the controversial video clip.

“We know all the nonsense going on in this country. They claim that they want to reconcile with us, yet they poison our brothers to death and then bury them in a mass grave,” he added. “Right now we know what they are doing to our brothers in the prisons. We are aware of how they are persecuting the ordinary people in the city.

“They just want to satisfy themselves and persuade the people into believing that an offer of reconciliation was given to us and we rejected it.”

The militant leader also decried the way government officials appear divided over the government’s peace moves in the Boko Haram matter, saying, “Look at the way some of them talk, ‘Let us find these people and reconcile with them,’ but others from amongst them say, ‘Why bother about the wishes of these people? The best way to deal with these people, who are just making empty threats, is to just finish them off.’

“An instance is that the Police Chief has mouthed what he wanted to say and God has shown him that He is the Most Powerful. And another one of them, the Army Chief, has said what he wanted to say.

“Now, you can see that even among themselves they don’t know exactly what to do about us. So, why should we be deceived by their utterances and abandon what God has commanded us to do?

“There is no talk of us abandoning what God says, much less be deceived by their utterances; even they are not really united on what to do with us.”

Shekau also denied that his group’s attack on the military barracks in Bauchi in which five people were killed was carried out in order to kill civilians, saying as a matter of principle the Boko Haram does not target civilians.

He said: “We do not kill those who drink alcohol. It is mere propaganda that we attacked a beer parlour. We had heard that it was purely soldiers who gathered there to drink, and we confirmed it, that was why we went there and killed them.

“It’s mere propaganda that we attacked a beer joint so that people would accuse us of killing innocent people, so that it would be said that Allah forbids the killing of consumers of alcohol, that there is a way to deal with such people.”

According to Shekau, the Boko Haram will continue fighting this war because it understood that it is the best way to earn its dignity and serve the interest of Islam.

“We understood from the Book sent to the Prophet Muhammad that there is no better way to earn our dignity than through the path God tells us to follow, that is holy war,” he remarked, adding, “Nobody is persecuting us like this government which regards itself as secular, and is concerned only with nation-building. Nobody is persecuting our religion and our Prophet like it. They use their soldiers, their police, their system of unbelief and their collaborators.”

However, he assured the ordinary people that his group will not harm them, arguing that their target is the government, its security forces and anybody the group regards as a collaborator.

He said: “We are just fighting those who are fighting us, soldiers and police and the rest; and anybody, even if he is a learned Muslim teacher, if we confirm that he exposes us to the government, his children will become orphans and his wife will become a widow, God’s willing. That is our way.”

In the video clip, Shekau is shown sitting on the floor with a bodyguard each on his sides. All three of them are dressed in fighting gear and each holds an AK-47 rifle. While Shekau’s face was not covered, his bodyguards covered theirs with handkerchiefs.

Shekau’s commentary, rendered in Hausa, is interspersed with readings from the Qur’an and video and still picture images of the war between the Boko Haram and the Nigerian security forces.

Why we will never give up-Shekau,Boko Haram Leader     Mon July 25,2011

IBRAHIM SHEME has watched the Boko Haram video clip and reports on what it contains

The video is 15 minutes, 39 seconds long. It opens with a recitation from the holy Qur’an, the part of which is rendered in Arabic on the screen. Static logo of the group. Recitation fades out. On the screen, an inscription comes up in Hausa, which translates as, “Department of Public Awareness, Jama’atu Ahlis-Sunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad presents to you … ‘A Lecture On Reconciliation’.” As recitation from the Qur’an resumes, video clips of the 2009 violence in Maiduguri are shown: Buji Foi, the former commissioner of religious affairs in Borno State under the last administration, is seen being executed at the state police headquaters; and dead bodies of Boko Haram members.

Recitation fades out as video of three men sitting on the floor, against a wall, fades in. It is daytime. A lizard occasionally passes on the wall, just above the men. Apparently, the scene is in a house near a street in a major town because sounds of traffic and voices can be heard in the background. The three men are sitting lotus-style, each nursing an AK-47 rifle. They are dressed in fighting gear, which includes military tunics. All three are young, aged probably between 30 and 45. They remind one of the Mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan or Palestine.

While the two men on either side of the one in the middle have their faces covered with handkerchiefs, the middle one has not hidden his identity. He is the leader of the group. He holds a sheaf of papers in his left hand, from which he reads a statement. His two bodyguards remain motionless throughout the rendition, conveying a menacing presence. Occasionally, the leader looks up from his papers to expatiate on his address. He speaks in Hausa.

The leader is identified with an inscription in the video as “Imam Abu Muhammad Abubakar Bin Muhammad Shekau, Imamu Jama’atu Ahlissunati Lidda’awati wal-Jihad.”

Below is a translation of the statement and comments made by Shekau in the new video.

“My brethren in the Religion, peace be unto you. I remind you of what the almighty Allah reminded His most beloved messenger after His other prophets, that is the Prophet Muhammad (SAW). (Quotes from the Qur’an in Arabic and translates: “Remember, when you are harmed and are being persecuted from all quarters, and you don’t know where to go, and then Allah brings you together, strengthens you, gives you wealth – a legalised wealth, not for anything but in order for you to show gratitude with your your utterances, and with your heart, and your actions. That is how the sons of Adam should show gratitude to their Creator.)

“O my brethren! Know that Allah has enjoined us in His Book (Quotes from the Qur’an in Arabic and translates): O you who believe! You should fear God the way you should. It means you should obey God the way He commands you to do. (Quotes again). It means you should not allow yourselves to leave this world unless you are true Muslims. May we finish in faith!

“The Muslims and the rest of the world should know that we are in this task only in order to defend our religion, the grace of our Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who is insulted in some places and is disgraced in other places; I swear, we rose in arms in order to defend our religion, the dignity of our Prophet and the lives and property of fellow Muslims who are always being killed and or persecuted by unbelievers. They are being persecuted and killed and at the end they are blamed and disgraced. I swear, that is what we are fighting against.

“We understood from the Book sent to the Prophet Muhammad that there is no better way to earn our dignity than through the path God tells us to follow, that is holy war.

“Nobody is persecuting us like this government which regards itself as secular, and is concerned only with nation-building. Nobody is persecuting our religion and our Prophet like it. They use their soldiers, their police, their system of unbelief and their collaborators.

“Look at the way some of them talk, ‘Let us find these people and reconcile with them,’ but others from amongst them say, ‘Why bother about the wishes of these people? The best way to deal with these people, who are just making empty threats, it to just finish them off.’ An instance is that the Police Chief has mouthed what he wanted to say and God has shown him that He is the Most Powerful. (Clips of Inspector of Police Hafiz Ringim and the bombing of Police Headquarters) And another one of them, the Army Chief, has said what he wanted to say. (Clip of soldiers on patrol) Now, you can see that even among themselves they don’t know exactly what to do about us. (Clip of President Jonathan) So, why should we be deceived by their utterances and abandon what God has commanded us to do? There is no talk of us abandoning what God says, much less be deceived by their utterances; even they are not really united on what to do with us.

“O people! You should know that we do not have any ulterior motive in this job apart from serving Islam. (Quotes in Arabic) And don’t think that because we say “Islam,” it simply means prayers, paying the poor due (Zakkat), Hajj or fasting; no, these are rituals that are integral parts of Islam. But you should know that Jihad, the holy war, as well as migration from where you are being persecuted to where you can worship God easily is also Islam; to give your wealth out in the cause of God is also Islam; indeed, every aspect of co-habitation such as trading, farming, mode of dressing, and even friendship are Islam. All our lives are governed by Islam. The foundation of Islam is Tauheed; whoever lacks Tauheed is like saying he is not with you. That is why Allah (SWT) says if you are going to be practising religion, then, all of you must join Islam. (Quotes from the Qur’an in Arabic, translates thus: “O you who believe! You must join the religion in whole”) That’s what Allah almighty says. But He also warns that you must not follow the Satan’s path, the Satan’s system. That is why we say that we will not follow a government of unbelief. We will only follow a government of Allah as governed by the Qur’an and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

“We did not come out (to fight) but for the sake of Allah. By God, we shall not do anything but what Allah has commanded us to do. And we did not leave our hometowns and our relatives, I swear, but for the sake of Allah.

“What we ultimately aspire for is to be matyred, I swear, on this path of God. That is our ultimate wish. But you (security forces) are afraid to die! So, you should not go and be saying that we are simply scaring people stiff, that we don’t have the courage to fight you face-to-face. Well, you are not the one who should teach us how to fight. This our way of fighting which you are seeing, we read it in our Book, we did not copy your own style. We don’t discriminate or try to brag, we are just looking at Allah’s religion. We are proud of our Creator. And any day we feel that we should go out and face you in the fight, you will see. Even a ram could be stronger than us in a different circumstance, but when we decided to fight in the cause of God, we see you as mere ants. I swear, even your American helpers are not enough! God is with us; therefore, you who calls yourself Chief of Army Staff, (sniggers) go and do your worst! There is nothing you can do against Allah.

“The only thing I will tell you is that you should repent. Return to the Way of God and practise Islam. Don’t think you are somebody. I swear, there is nothing people will give you, and at the end you would be the loser; you would be killed for nothing and at the end you would be cast into Hellfire. That is for sure.

“And, you people should know that we do not kill those who drink alcohol. It is mere propaganda that we attacked a beer parlour. We had heard that it was purely soldiers who gathered there to drink, and we confirmed it, that was why we went there and killed them. (Clips of soldiers and policemen) It’s mere propaganda that we attacked a beer joint so that people would accuse us of killing innocent people, so that it would be said that Allah forbids the killing of consumers of alcohol, that there is a way to deal with such people. No, we don’t kill drinkers of alcohol; neither do we steal people’s property. That is not our job. Also, we don’t kill a Muslim; if you hear that we have killed a Muslim, we must have found out that he was collaborating with the unbelievers. That is what we do; that is what the religion of Allah provides for us. It is not somebody’s order we are following.

“We know that in the Qur’an there are verses where it is said: ‘If you are offered reconciliation, you should accept it,’ but there are verses in the Qur’an where it is said: ‘If you are offered reconciliation, don’t accept it.’ We know where those verses apply. (Quotes from the Qur’an in Arabic) We know them all; we have read them in the Qur’an. We are fully aware that in Islam there is a provision for reconciliation, but there are conditions for reconciliation. Only a Muslim knows when to reconcile with a non-Muslim; it is not the non-Muslim who should impose conditions for reconciliation on the Muslim. And we are Muslims.

“As far as the ordinary people are concerned, by God, we want happy increase for them. We are being persecuted. Even recently, in a village in Kaduna State (Zonkwa) Muslims were pushed into a dug-out hole and petrol was poured on them before they were set ablaze. What did your government do about this? (Clips of burnt bodies). You must not deceive us. You should not deceive us! We know all the nonsense going on in this country. They claim that they want to reconcile with us, yet they poison our brothers to death and then bury them in a mass grave. Right now we know what they are doing to our brothers in the prisons. We are aware of how they are persecuting the ordinary people in the city. They just want to satisfy themselves and persuade the people into believing that an offer of reconciliation was given to us and we rejected it. You shouldn’t do that.

“All we want from you is that you should repent and return to the Way of God. I swear, if not… Look, do not think that it is us you are fighting. You had thought that by killing Mohammed Yusuf the problem had passed, but what happens now? You are still searching for a Mohammed Yusuf! (Clip of Mohammed Yusuf’s blood-drenched dead body) Even me who is speaking, maybe I am better off. All we want is to die and go to paradise. We do not care about this world. We pray to Allah to protect us.

“That is the message I wanted to communicate to all people, so that ordinary people could have a rest of mind, to know that wherever we are seen we are not at fault over this issue. We are just fighting those who are fighting us, soldiers and police and the rest; and anybody, even if he is a learned Muslim teacher, if we confirm that he exposes us to the government, his children will become orphans and his wife will become a widow, in God’s name. That is our way. But the ordinary people in town, we seek your forgiveness; I swear we will not harm you. We are not really seeking your permission, but God;s support. That’s all I wanted to say.”

The video showing Shekau fades out just as recitation from the Qur’an in Arabic resumes. The group’s logo is shown and, under it in Hausa appears the inscription, “We seek prayers from you, our brethren, with the hope that God will grant us the Islamic realm and help us all”.

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