Nigeria: Boko Haram Leader Vows to Continue Killing Christians
- Posted on January 11, 2012 at 11:40pm by
Tiffany Gabbay
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LAGOS, Nigeria (The Blaze/AP) — The leader of a radical Islamist sect has challenged the authority of Nigeria’s Christian president in an online video, promising more attacks in a nation increasingly overcome by unrest and divided by religion. In fact, on Tuesday The Blaze asked if Nigeria is on the brink of a Muslim vs. Christian civil war.
The video of Imam Abubakar Shekau cements his leadership in the sect known as Boko Haram. Analysts and diplomats say the sect has fractured over time, with a splinter group responsible for the majority of the assassinations and bombings carried out in its name.
It also exploits the widening mistrust those living in Nigeria’s Muslim north feel for a weak federal government run by a Christian president, who has sparked a nationwide strike and protests after removing subsidies that kept gasoline prices low.
“In the end, they said they should kill us. They kill us. They burn our houses. They burn our mosques,” Shekau says in the Hausa language of Nigeria’s north. “They didn’t even leave us. Because of that, we thought, let us protect ourselves as well.”
Boko Haram, whose name in Hausa means “Western education is sacrilege,” has carried out attacks in Nigeria’s northeast and its capital that killed at least 510 people last year alone, according to an Associated Press count. The sect is blamed by the government for killing at least 68 people in the last week alone, as it continues its campaign to impose strict Islamic Shariah law across the multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people.
On Wednesday, suspected Boko Haram gunmen attacked a bus in Yobe state carrying Christian Igbo traders fleeing the north for their homeland in the country’s southeast, killing four people, police said. In Adamawa state, authorities said sect members shot to death a police officer.
Shekau took control of the sect after a riot and security crackdown in July 2009 saw Boko Haram’s leader and about 700 others killed. Police initially claimed to have killed Shekau during that violence in Nigeria, but he emerged last year in audio and video messages just before Boko Haram began its campaign of violence.
In the 15-minute video uploaded Tuesday to YouTube, Shekau appears relaxed, wearing a camouflage bulletproof vest and sitting between two Kalashnikov rifles. He criticized President Goodluck Jonathan for speaking out about the sect and hints that the group carries much more popular support across Nigeria’s arid and impoverished north than what authorities believe.
“All these things you’ve been seeing happening, it’s Allah who has been doing it because you refuse to believe in him and you misuse his religion and because of that, the thing is more than you, Jonathan,” Shekau says. You can “meet other people who think what we’re doing is good.”
Shekau also recites a list of areas where Muslims have been killed in communal violence across Nigeria, then called on the president of an umbrella group of Christians to “repent” for calling on worshippers to defend themselves after Boko Haram began targeting Christians.
“People are talking about us, that we are a disease, a cancer, to people in Nigeria,” Shekau says. “But we are not cancer and we are not a disease. And we are not wicked people with a bad habit. If people do not know us, Allah knows us.”
While Boko Haram attacks began as drive-by shootings on motorcycles, the sect’s assaults have become much more sophisticated over time, including using suicide car bombers. The sect claimed responsibility for the Aug. 26 attack on the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria that killed 25 people and wounded more than 100 others. It also carried out attacks that killed at least 42 people in Christmas Day strikes that included the bombing of a Catholic church near Abuja.
The U.S. government believes Boko Haram remains in contact with two al-Qaida-inspired terror groups in Africa, which could account for the increasing complexity of their attacks. The Shekau video also suggests an outside influence, copying the style of other terror groups’ messages.
Muslims and Christians largely live in peace, do business with each other and intermarry in Nigeria. However, tension over Boko Haram’s attacks have seen mosques attacked in recent weeks. On Tuesday, an angry mob attacked a mosque and school in southwest Nigeria, killing at least five people.
Muslim groups also denounced Boko Haram’s violence, though many in the north remain angry over the high unemployment and poverty crushing the region as politicians embezzle billions of dollars of the country’s oil revenues. Protests over the April presidential election that saw Jonathan win sparked rioting that left 800 dead across the north.
If you wish to see Shekau’s video message, it is featured below, but has yet to be translated:
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Comments (63)
greggor
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 11:40amAnd why is this lowlife still alive? Kill the bastard!!!
Kill anyone who would kill in the name of their (however awful) religion.
There.. most of the world’s problems solved.
Report Post »Mesaba67
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:05pmReligion is not always the problem, humankind is. People with no religion have had thier share of killings. People like to with no morals have also used religion for thier own gain.
Report Post »DeavonReye
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 10:33amI do not agree with christian doctrines. . . . . but if they started this crap here in this country, I will be defending Americans against enemies, both foreign and domestic. I am well aware of the stance of the Jihadist, . . . and know that I would be a target as well. . . and from those who would show no mercy. Therefore, . . . neither would I.
Islam is a black plague on this planet, . . . and unfortunately, it doesn’t seem as though it will end anytime soon. There doesn’t seem to be any enlightenment. They hold onto primative barbarism that has no place in a civilized and advancing world.
Report Post »AnAppealToGod
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 11:21amWhen you‘re told that you’ll go to paradise if you sacrifice yourself killing those who do not believe what you believe, I don’t think they see it as barbarianism.
Report Post »DeavonReye
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 11:29amThat‘s why they’re so dangerous. When you think you’re “pleasing a god”, you are ripe for all sorts of carnage “in his name”. Barbaric, animalistic, primative, and gullible to false beliefs.
Report Post »discus02
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 9:43amHis name sounds like a bad rock band!
Report Post »saranda
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 10:39amWhiter shade of pale
Knights in white satin
Nothing bad about that.
Report Post »whizkid
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 9:04amYet another assault upon Christians and still no MSM press coverage of it!! And where oh where is our State Dept.??? Hillary, can you here me?? You and your husband were ALL OVER the media when the Tienanmen Square debacle was going on, where are you NOW while HUNDREDS are being slaughtered or raped or both in more than one country as we speak!?? The party that proclaims to be of the people, the oppressed, down trodden, those without a voice–where is YOUR VOICE NOW??? Screaming for more Deficit money!!!! SHAMELESS PHONIES with absolutely no conscience!!
Report Post »HorseCrazy
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 11:44amthe msm is too worried about bain capital gay marraige and a “woman’s right to choose” to actually report on any real issue. disgusting isnt it
Report Post »fuzzy20841
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 8:24amMake this guy and his ill go away! Special forces could resolve this issue very quickly! If the mission succeeds, and it will, pay the brave a bonus paid from any and all foreign aid to these nations. Try Predator first.
Report Post »barber2
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 8:19amReligious gang mentality. Males gone amok. Taught to hate , they keep passing on that tradition.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 7:47amDidn’t Obama send U.S. Special Forces to Africa last fall to kill The Army of God, the Christian version of Boko Haram? I guess that makes the U.S. and Boko Haram allies. “Change You Can Believe In”
Report Post »LibsAndCopKillersALoveStory
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 10:58pmGonzo: You are awesome.
Report Post »Publius Novus
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 7:10amThis is the Sudan all over again. Islam is inching it’s way south in Africa.
Report Post »BIGJAYINPA
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 7:42amEphesians 6: 10-18. The Evil One and his disciples are coming. All Christians need to prepare themselves for the coming battles……..Just sayin’
Report Post »notreally
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:33amIslam is an in-your-face movement similar to the gay, OWS, atheist, socialist and Reverend Wright’s movements whose goal is to destroy the culture we love. If we oppose them they and their allies in the democrat media call us Islamophobes, racists, homophobes or greedy. What distinguishes the Muslim movement is that they have a holy book which commands them to get in our face…for Allah. And they do:
Today Muslims are involved in civil wars in China, Russia, Bosnia, Cyprus, Macedonia, Israel, Pakistan, India, Indonesia-Ambon & Halmarhera, Côte d’Ivoire, Kashmir, Kosovo, Kurdistan, Kirghizia, Nigeria, Philippines, Somalia, Turkey, Chechnya, Sudan, Yemen, Thailand, Uganda, Azerbaijan and East Timor. (It’s tedious to verify this: bing search “civil wars in the world” then research each one and find out that Muslims are among the combatants — always playing the victim, of course). That’s nearly 90% of all civil wars in the world where Muslims fight Buddhists, Jews, Zoroastrians, Copts, communists, Sikhs, animists, Christians, Hindus – any and all non-Muslim cultures.
Report Post »ThePostman
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 3:34amIf this article inflames any of you, then by all means, go and fight them, but do not conscript my money and my citizens’ blood to wage battle with people who have not even bothered to come here to harm us. It is none of my business. And those of you who believe yourselves to be patriotic – do not allow one act by our government against these people until congress has declared war. At that time, we can unleash the hounds of war. Until then, just shut your traps. I am weary of the war-mongerers, who conscript our precious national wealth to themselves under the guise of folly.
Report Post »RepubliCorp
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 4:03amTHEDUMBASS Watch the video of the people jumping out the windows of the twin towers. Spew your BS to the victims families ….I bet you will be knocked off your high horse
Report Post »NoSleeper
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:27amThe story does not inflame me – ethnic, tribal and religious strife are the norm for these countries and we can do nothing to end it. True, we may be able to stop it for awhile at significant human and fiscal costs, but the violence will return once we leave.
These countries and their peoples must work out their differences on their own and develop their own societies and governments. We cannot impose democracy, individual freedom or tolerance on them; these MUST be fought for, won through trial and tribulation, or they have no meaning and no value to the people and will fail (we only need to look at our society to see how easily individual liberty is given away by those that did not have to shed blood to gain it or keep it).
When and if their violence is turned towards us, as on 9/11, then and only then should we take action…and it should be swift and decisive, not a long drawn-out police action with unsupportable rules of engagement.
Americans like to believe that all human life has equal value, and I tend to support that belief…until it is demonstrated through their own actions that a person, group or society does not share that belief. At some point, we must hold them responsible for their deeds and act accordingly. A good example is in Israel where, through prisoner exchange, the relative value was set by the Muslims: 1 Israeli = 1,000 terrorists. In any future military actions, the casualties should reflect the established exchange rate.
Report Post »Captain Crunch
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 2:22amDEARBORN, Michigan — The leader of a radical Islamist sect has challenged the right of infidel/non-believers to living outside the constraints of Shiria Law, calling them terrorists and Jew loving pigs, promising attacks and the sword of Allah’s justice (blessed be his name). Dearborn is a city increasingly overcome by unrest and divided by religion. As the American Muslem population grows it appears the nation is on the brink of a Muslim vs. Christian civil war…..
It could happen here.
Report Post »HorseCrazy
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 11:46amit can and the creeping sharia is coming. islam is a disease that needs to be kept quarantined I vote guantanamo
Report Post »poulin
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 4:42pmit will
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 2:04amHas Obama Bowed to Nigeria yet ???
Report Post »christianUSA
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 1:47amOpinion: this mass Murdering moo-slim-e and his sharia; the devil does know him as does the True Living God who judges know about his deeds, may the earthy judges soon put him before The Judge.
Report Post »AnAppealToGod
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 1:20amC’mon guys!!! There isn’t any other religion more peaceful than Islam. The Koran is a peaceful book and it does not influence this kind of thing.
hmm
Report Post »Chuck Stein
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 1:26amOf course. I knew that. Der Obamasar told us so.
Report Post »cuinsong
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 12:52amWhen I hear about all the killing going on around the world I get real sick to my stomach. On the Moslem side we hear that they are a religion of peace but they keep having conflicts with anybody who wants to live their life with other values based on their culture, in my case Christian values. Let me be clear Islam does not have an inside line on salvation regardless of what they teach. It is all based on a belief in some past events interpreted by other people that may or may not have gotten it right including Christianity. But they keep trying to shove it into our face as must accept and convert or die. That’s not right and when my frustration gets to high I write song’s and this song is about religious beliefs and teachings called “That’s not right”
Report Post »http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_10789999
and about their soul’s called “The Devils song”
http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_10789987
B-Neil
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 12:46amI’m to old now. But there is a place for some good old Merc’s. Plenty of targets. CARRY ON McDUFF
Report Post »Captain Crunch
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 2:29amWhen the time is ripe even old solders remember how to carry on the fight.
Report Post »One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 12:37amThese Muslims kick people in the shins figuratively day in and day out, then when they get their lunch handed to them always IN RESPONSE TO THEIR INITIAL ATTACK (ie 911) they whine and cry like wuzzzies.
I‘m sick of this ’religion of peace’ and these people get nuked up you can bet on an all out nuclear war in the future. Guaranteed/ so who’s it gonna be, US or THEM?
Report Post »Larry E
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 5:48pmAmen! They‘ve attacked Israel I don’t know how many times, get their heads handed to them every time by the IMF, then they whine about those nasty Israelis seizing their land, the West Bank, Golan Heights, you name it. If the Israelis don‘t give back the land then they’re terrible according to the Mslms and Progressives.
The Mslms are very lucky that the Israelis have shown such restraint or we might be enjoying vacations in Egypt without worrying about the Mslm Brotherhood.
Report Post »barber2
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 12:21amThe early missionaries to pagan regions were very brave. As are our modern peace -keepers in these regions where , similarly , religious evil and hatred are being practiced as a belief in a god. Their real god here is Satan who loves violence, chaos and killing. Wonder what the Islamic term/ Arabic word is for “satan.” They need to acknowledge him. He is the real Dude running this jihadi operation in the twisted form of a religion but not sure what they call him…
Report Post »scout n ambush
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 12:40amNot positive on their name for satan but Al-Dajjal is something to look into.
Report Post »Captain Crunch
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 2:32amObama ?
Report Post »DeavonReye
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 10:21am“Their real god here is Satan who loves violence, chaos and killing.”
Care to give the source of this statement?
Report Post »DeavonReye
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 12:13pmTo make my question more specific, . . . do you have evidential support that Satan “loves violence, chaos and killing”?
Report Post »Robert-CA
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 12:15amHey Boko go F yourself .
Report Post »scout n ambush
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 12:14amI started to say ,now barrack will send troops there but he already did didn’t he ? Not that he would get to serious about the killing of christians by muslims but if it is sunni v/s shitte that would be diffrent .What islam wants is all the terrritory it can get .They claim all the countries where they settle the same way it happens over and over .People learned nothing from ww2 all hitlers words and actions before the war were not taken serious and the result was another world war .It is happening again with muslims and communists working together and people laugh at the muslims words and say they don’t really mean it they dont want to really take over the world and convert or kill all nonmuslim.
Report Post »chasbronson
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 12:11amWhere is General butt-naked when you need him.
Report Post »AmeriCat
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 12:10amChristians also being killed in throughout the Middle East,
Report Post »particularly those remaining few in Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Iraq.
The one thing in common with those who are killing Christians?
They all have the same belief system…Islam.
GBMBulletsSKNRD
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 12:05amPure evil…………….
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on January 11, 2012 at 11:43pm.
Report Post »I’m still looking for a Good Muslim. But the Dead Ones are Winning………..
paleoman
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 3:47pmIn the post about the Afgan prez being all pissed off or is that pissed on, you will see some good muslims, DEAD ONES.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on January 11, 2012 at 11:43pmLuke 22:36
Report Post »AnAppealToGod
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 1:18amGo get swords just to not use them?
Report Post »Captain Crunch
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 2:46amHe who lives by the sword shall by by the sword…. Just don’t be a murderer. Killing in self defense or defense of ones family is not a sin. For me personally, it would be sin to fail to raise my hand in resistance if the ones whom God gave me the responsibility to care for came under attack.
Report Post »Not everybody who believes is able to take the absolute non-violence way. God will judge each mans deeds justly.
Just my opinion….
goahead.makemyday
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 9:00amI never understood that passage because they return with two and Jesus said that it is enough for the purpose. Jesus basically told them to arm every sing person and they only bring back two? Wow.
Report Post »goahead.makemyday
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 9:01amsingle not sing
Report Post »Biddle
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 3:30pmYall should get familiar with the commentary to chew on the context of that verse…..its very helpful. A crucial component to understanding the words of our Saviour, is being familiar with the language of the day. Although His truth supercedes time, He did speak in the dialect of the day, using all of the literal, spiritual, and figurative tools that were available. “SEEK and ye shall find…” the word seek here involves more than taking a glance. Not saying you guys are not familiar with this….just wanted to share.
Report Post »