The Joint Military Task Force has
offered various cash rewards for information leading to the capture of the
leaders of the violent Islamic extremist group known as the Boko Haram.
A press statement released by the
spokesperson of the JTF, Lt.Col Sagir Musa, which was available online on
Friday, named the leader of the sect, Abubakar Shekau and 19 others as the
targets.
The statement said, “They are
wanted in connection with terrorist activities particularly in the North East
Zone of Nigeria that led to the killings, bombings and assassination of some
civilians, religious leaders, traditional rulers, businessmen, politicians,
civil servants and security personnel amongst others.”
Also the JTF said the men were
wanted for arson and destruction of properties worth of millions of Naira.
The task force placed a reward of
N50m on Shekau and N25m each on four of the men, which it described as members
of the ‘Shurra Committee’, an inner circle within the sect that is responsible
for its major decisions.
The four men are Habibu Yusuf,
aka Asalafi; Khalid Albarnawai, Momodu Bama; and Mohammed Zangina.
The 14 other men, described as
Boko Haram Commanders have a bounty of N10m each placed on their
heads.
In June, the United States
designated three Nigerian Islamist extremists “global terrorists” but declined
to label Boko Haram a terrorist group, citing its domestic focus, among other
issues.
The three named by the US State
Department were Shekau as well as Abubakar Adam Kambar and Khalid al-Barnawi,
both said to have ties to a regional Al-Qaeda group.
Yet the JTF statement offered
rewards on both Shekau and al-Barnawi, but not Kambar.
The statement indicates a new
government hard line, perhaps stemming from efforts to generate negotiations
that may see renewed militant attacks on soft targets in the country.
Violence linked to Boko Haram’s
insurgency is believed to have left some 3,000 people dead since 2009,
including killings by the security forces.
Recently, the group asked the
leader of the Congress for Political Change, General Muhammadu Buhari, to
mediate talks with the government, but Buhari turned down the offer.
The group has claimed to be seeking
an Islamist state in Nigeria. But its demands have repeatedly shifted and it is
believed to include various factions with differing aims, in addition to
imitators and criminal gangs that carry out violence while posing as members of
the group.
Meanwhile, the American
ambassador to Nigeria, Terence McCulley said on Thursday that the US remains on
high alert attacks on its interests in Nigeria by Islamists, even though they
have not mounted any major operations for months.
Ambassador Terence McCulley told
Reuters that unrest in Northern Mali made it easier for Nigeria’s Islamist sect
Boko Haram to link up with outside jihadist groups, including al Qaeda’s north
African wing.
“We’re still on a pretty high
state of alert. There are potential targets of opportunity so … we need to be
careful,” McCulley said in an interview in the Nigerian capital Abuja.
McCulley alluded to a bombing
claimed by Boko Haram of the Nigeria headquarters of the United Nations in
August 2011, killing 24 people, and the kidnappings and killings of one
British, one Italian and one German citizen earlier this year.
Although Boko Haram itself denied
any involvement in the kidnappings, they were thought to be the work of other
Islamist groups with links to the sect.
“That is clear evidence that if
there are targets of opportunity they will seize them. They are working
contrary to our interests and other Western interests,” McCulley said.
The Punch
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