அல்லா உலகம் தட்டை என்று குரானில் சொல்லியிருகிறார் என்று கூறிகொண்டு அதனை யே பள்ளிக்கூடங்களில் சொல்லித்தர வேண்டும் என்று கோரி, கிறிஸ்துவர்களை கொன்றொழிக்க நைஜீரியாவில் முஸ்லீம் பயஙக்ரவாத இயக்கம் போகோ ஹராம் இருக்கிறது.
இப்போது அதனை எதிர்த்து முஸ்லீம்களை கொல்ல நைஜீரியாவில் கிறிஸ்துவ பயங்கரவாத இயக்கம் ஆரம்பிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.
Boko Haram: Christian terror group emerge in northern Nigeria
LAGOS—A new Christian terror group has emerged in northern Nigeria. Called Akhwat Akwop, the group was apparently formed to checkmate the activities of the extremist Muslim Boko Haram sect.
Nigerian Army Chief Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirikarecently disclosed the army’s readiness to collaborate with other security agencies to tackle terrorism while declaring open the Third Quarter Chief of Army Staff conference in Abuja
The emergence of the new group, is reportedly giving security agencies in the north of the country goose pimples.
Security sources said that the new group, Akhwat Akwop, claimed that its target for violence would be women whose husbands were reportedly behind the violent activities of Boko Haram in the last three months.
However, security personnel, now trying to unravel those behind the new ‘’terror group’’, believe that the peace in the north was being threatened the more, because of the suspicion occasioned by the several clashes in various parts of the north in the last 10 years in which the perpetrators were not punished due to alleged lack of political will by the authorities to implement any of the reports of the investigative panels instituted to look into the crises.
‘’We are worried that the security situation in the north is degenerating and it may get to serious ethno-religious wars that will spread across the states in the area”, one of the sources said.
‘’The emergence of this new group gives us serious cause for concern because the situation in Somalia and other troubled parts of the world began with small issues which laterdegenerated’.’
The group has asked nationals of five Islamic countries suspected to be funding the Boko Haram to leave the country.
Akhwat Akwop alleged that the Islamic republics of Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Mauritania and Sudan had been funding the terrorist activities of Boko Haram, warning that its members would attack the nationals of the five countries and their interests.
The group made its position known in a statement issued, Wednesday, and made available to various media houses in Lagos, Abuja and Kaduna.
The group, which sounded a wake-up call on all Christians over the current activities of Boko Haram, said the violence being unleashed on the country was to intimidate President Goodluck Jonathan and other Nigerians to enable the Hausa/Fulani seize power in 2015.
Akhwat Akwop, however, said that political power must return to the old Eastern Region after Jonathan in 2015.
It further stated that it does not recognise any Muslim traditional ruler in any way or form in any part of the North, warning that for peace and harmony in the North in particular and Nigeria in general to be maintained, the Hausa/Fulani who settled in the various minority tribes in the North must stop oppressing their hosts in those areas.
Meanwhile, a man described by security agents as the “operational commander” of Boko Haram has been arrested in Borno State.
Ali Saleh and five others are being held, as security agencies trail more suspected members of the Islamic fundamentalist sect.
But, Saleh’s status seems controversial, with the claim in some quarters that the suspect is a mere gun runner.
The government has not ruled out peace talks with the sect, despite its rejection of dialogue.
Saleh was arrested alongside some members of the sect by the Joint Task Force (JTF) after an attack on some buildings on Baga Road in Maiduguri, the state capital.
Governor Kashim Shettima confirmed the arrest of the Boko Haram chiefs yesterday.
He told the Associated Press in an interview that with the arrests,” I believe the worst is over”.
The governor said Boko Haram maintains a loose command-and-control structure, which allows groups to operate autonomously.
“They operate in some sort of cells, some sort of units that the interlinked, but generally, they take directives from one commander,” Shettima said.
The governor said a negotiated peace could be reached between the government and the sect. But, he warned that those who continue with assassinations and bombings will be hunted down.
While Shettima and others say progress is being made, residents of Maiduguri largely refuse to talk about the security situation in public. Privately, they say they remain scared of both Boko Haram and the security agencies, who have been accused of brutality in their new crackdown against the sect.
A highly placed source, who spoke in confidence, said the attack that led to Saleh’s arrest occurred about three weeks ago and the JTF operatives combed the area and arrested the suspects.
“It was during interrogation that the JTF discovered that Saleh is an operational commander of the sect,” said the source.
“We have to crosscheck our information on Saleh with the members of the sect in custody with him and with other intelligence networks to ascertain that he is a key member of the leadership of the sect.
“It is safe to say that we have an operational commander of Boko Haram with the JTF and some members of the sect under his command.”
Saleh and some of those arrested are said to have confirmed their involvement in some of the bombings in the country.
“We are still interrogating them and we are on the trail of others too,” the source said.
When contacted through text message Thursday, the Commander of the JTF, Col. Victor Ibalemen, replied: “I am in a meeting.”
Another source, however, said: “I think it is too early to say that Saleh is a Boko Haram leader. Based on local intelligence, some are claiming that he is a notorious gun runner in Borno State.
“Saleh was arrested, following a tip-off by some people. And you cannot dispute the claim of the locals because they know themselves. Whatever is the status of Saleh and relationship with Boko Haram, it is the duty of security agencies to tell the nation.”
President Goodluck Jonathan has asked security chiefs to be on the alert, irrespective of the gains the JTF has recorded in Borno State. He also insisted that there must be synergy among all the security chiefs.
The President reportedly gave the order at the review meetings he had with the security chiefs on Monday and Tuesday.
A source said: “The sessions were lengthy but fulfilling. But the President asked the security chiefs to be on the alert. He said they should not take any situation for granted.
“Apart from improved intelligence gathering, the security agencies were directed to take pre-emptive measures as may be dictated by any situation.”
But the Federal Government does not rule out dialogue with the sect.
A top government official, who pleaded not to be named, said: “We have read what they said but the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan does not rule out peace talks with Boko Haram leaders.
“Already, Vice-President Namadi Sambo has a copy of the Galtimari Panel on Boko Haram in Borno State and the findings are being studied by the presidency.
“No government will succumb to threats but as far as the President is concerned, the crisis at hand is resolvable at the peace table.
Akhwat Akwop came into security consciousness in July this year when it dropped leaflets in some parts of the north, including Benue, Taraba, Yobe, Borno, Bauchi, Adamawa, Plateau, Kogi, Nasarawa and Kaduna states, warning that it would do everything possible to liberate northern minorities from the strangle-hold of the Hausa/Fulani who, it stated, had been lording it over them and causing havoc in Nigeria in the name of Islam.
In Kaduna State, large quantities of the leaflets were left at the state chapter of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, Press Centre by unknown persons.
The leaflets, entitled 'Warning to Boko Haram,' claimed that Akhwat Akwop stood for the Christian equivalent of Boko Haram, adding that it would be in the forefront of the struggle for the emancipation of northern minorities, whether Christians or Muslims.
