Victims of a recent attack by Boko Haram recently

A recent flurry of signals from the Jama’atu Ahl-Sunnati Lil Da’awati wal Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram, reveals that all may not be well with the group. The fearsome sect, it can be revealed, has recently turned against some of its members.

Blueprint learnt last night that two of the Islamic sect’s top commanders were recently executed by their colleagues on grounds of ideological differences.

At the time of filing this report, another key member of the sect was said to be facing trial by the group with the possibility of meeting similar fate.

The assassinated duo have been identified as Abdul’aziz Nabauchi and Abu Mijan.

Nabauchi was a key mid-range commander of the sect, in charge of operations such as assassinations and bombings, as well as a key member of the group’s strategic intelligence corps based in Bauchi.

Hamza, who went by the name Abu Mijan, was in charge of arms, as well as assassinations. Both fell out of favour with the top-most hierarchy of the sect and were summarily executed by the group.

These revelations and others were exclusively relayed to Blueprint in a telephone interview yesterday in Hausa, with the spokesman of the group, who goes by the name Abul Qaqa.

The two commanders are believed to have been arrested separately earlier in the year by the security agencies and were allegedly released in circumstances that aroused the suspicion of the sect’s top hierarchy.

According to Abul Qaqa, the release of both men was followed by a spate of government arrests of Boko Haram members. This development apparently compelled the top hierarchy of the sect’s leadership to put both men on its watch list.

Abul Qaqa confirmed that in recent months, his group had suffered some setbacks in Maiduguri, Bauchi and Kano, following the activities of those two members.

“We killed the hypocrites to serve as a deterrent to others who may be considering venturing into such marriage with government,” he said.

A senior security officer in Maiduguri who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity confirmed that both Abdul’aziz and Hamza died mysteriously not long after they were released from government detention. But the officer could not say if the security agencies had set up both men as moles on release in order to track their colleagues.

The deaths of these sect members, according to the security officer, represents a blow to the government’s secret programme to coax Boko Haram members to stop their armed struggle that has become a source of worry internationally.

However, a source who is knowledgeable with the thinking of the group told our reporter that Abdul’aziz Nabauchi and Abu Mijan might have decided to work for government after their arrest and detention by security agents or they might have been compelled by the growing resentment within the group over the perceived criminality initiated by the group to generate funds to acquire weapons and the indiscriminate killing of Muslims by the group.

But Abul Qaqa dismissed claims that there is a crack within the group, saying, “We are strong and are all obedient to our leader, Imam Shekau. I am not aware of any rift or faction within our group.”

The spokesman stressed that Boko Haram is strengthening its operations every day to avoid shortcomings.

“Each member of the group has a level of access and information he gets, therefore it is very difficult for a commander to be arrested and you get any useful information from him about our activities,” he said.

Abul Qaqa refused to give further details on the identity of the key member of the sect that is currently facing trial. He, however, said, “We are drilling him to ascertain the level of his involvement. If we find him wanting, we will ask him to go and assign someone to eliminate him. Both Abdul’aziz and Hamza were allowed to go home but shortly after they were reunited with their families we eliminated them.”

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