By Folabi Ogunleye | Tuesday, May 1, 2012
TWO days after it carried out Sunday’s deadly attack at the Abuja and Kaduna offices of major Nigerian newspapers that included This Day, The Sun and National Mirror, the mass-murdering terror group operating out of northern Nigeria, popularly known as Boko Haram, released an online video on Tuesday in which it promised to extend its campaign of terror to other media houses in Nigeria.
In a poorly edited video posted on the You Tube video website, the terrorists, basking in their idea of insane success, claimed responsibility for the attacks, showing a smiling would-be suicide bomber talking about his mission in a vehicle before the attack.
The video also showed the sport utility vehicle used in the operation being driven into the Abuja premises of This Day, before a massive fireball of explosion appeared, blowing-up the complex and shattering the windows of a nearby high-rise building.
Claiming to be from the ‘public awareness department’ of the killer fanatics, the presenter announced what he called “reasons for attacking This Day news paper.”
“Nigerians, our name is not Boko Haram; we are Muslims, Ahlis Sunnah,” the speaker said as music that sounded like an Islamic ballad played in the background.
“This is a message from the public awareness department of the Jamatu Ahlis sunnah lil daawati wal jihad, a group engaged in jihad in Nigeria,” the speaker continued before launching into an XX minute rant against the Nigerian state, the Nigerian media and anybody else he considered to be enemy.
In the release, the speaker sought to “explain” the groups reasons for shifting its focus towards media houses everywhere, singling-out the This Day newspaper for criticism for, among other things, the newspaper’s hosting of a 2002 beauty pageant contest which, according to the group, amounted to “dishonoring Prophet Mohammed.”
“At that time, some people who called themselves leaders of Muslims came out to say they have forgiven those who committed the offence,” the speaker said.
“But based on our knowledge, we know that no one has the power to forgive anyone for an offence that God himself has given judgement, especially on an offence that has to do with dishonouring Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
“No one has the power to forgive this type of offence, and the judgement is for such persons to be killed.
“This lady that committed this crime, the judgement on her is to be killed at any opportunity; and the media house is also supposed to be driven out of existence whenever there is a chance to do so.”
Celebrating the attack on This Day, the group vowed to continue its attack on other news organization that it holds in contempt, promising to drive them out of existence. The speaker accused these media houses, including This Day, of unfavorable reportage of the terror group’s motives and its activities, saying they are lies to tarnish the group’s image.
The charges include:
- That the newspapers accused the terror group of kidnapping and killing the foreigners held in Sokoto, whose rescue by government forces failed.
- That the group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, was misrepresented in recent reports published by the newspapers.
- That despite the groups refutation of a purported arrest by the Department of State Security operatives of one of the group’s top associates, Abu Qaqa, the media houses went ahead to claim that it was indeed Abu Qaqa who was arrested.
Other similar questionable accusations were made by the group in seeking to justify its continuing brutal annihilation of the Nigerian population.
“The first group is the likes of Thisday whose offences are big,” the speaker said. “The second group we will also attack soon are Punch, Daily Sun, Vanguard, Guardian, Nation, Tribune, and National Accord, which are all newspaper houses.”
The United States government-funded Voice of America, too, was included in the roll-call of their intended targets, “by the grace of Allah.”
“There is also VOA Hausa radio. All these media houses we will attack them including their staff and offices, by God’s grace.
“VOA Hausa for instance have recently started campaigning for people to support the government against us by exposing us.”
The quixotic threats gave the impression that the group was intent on destroying the entire Nigerian and international media, as it included even more targets, including the rugged foreign-based online blog popular with many Nigerians, Sahara Reporters.
“The next group that are on the verge of joining this list who if they are not careful we will attack very soon include, Leadership, Daily Trust, Peoples Daily and RFI(Radio France international)
“There is an online medium known as Saharareporters who have their office in New York, and who have made their site as a platform for attack against Islam. So we are warning them to stop making their site an avenue for attacking Islam, otherwise we will find a way of attacking them too.
Claiming that the government has resorted to the arrests of wives and children of members of the terror group, and demolishing their homes, the speaker said that the group has commenced the attack of public academic institutions, particularly institutions of higher learning, promising to destroy 500 government buildings for the destruction of every single home of the group’s members.
“We have already started with Gombe and Kano,” the murderous rant ended.