Kanyi Okeke
The militant Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad, an Islamist
sect widely known as Boko Haram, that it plans to launch further
devastating attacks on churches and government buildings in the coming
days and weeks. On the heels of this week’s escalation of sectarian violence in
Kaduna State, the sect said it planned to make the month of June 2012
the bloodiest month yet in its violent and bloody campaigns against
those it tagged infidels.
A contact for the sect that his group’s planned attacks would be
focused and bloody. The group’s s pokesperson claimed that Boko Haram
had moved some 300 suicide bombers to attack churches in Southern Kaduna
as well as Plateau State. The source also stated that the sect was determined to exact massive
revenge for the Muslims killed in the Jos and Southern Kaduna areas.
To achieve its current deadly agenda, the contact said Boko Haram had
recruited the sons and daughters of some Muslims killed in past
religious conflicts. He revealed that the new recruits are sworn to an
oath of secrecy and allegiance before they are sent to train in handling
weapons, bomb making and suicide bombing in Mauritania and Somalia. On
the trainees’ return to Nigeria, they are handed over to Boko Haram
“welfare officers” who ensure that all their needs are met.
The contact disclosed that Boko Haram’s welfare officers provide
material support for the suicide bombers’ families and relatives before
and after the recruits are sent on assignments, mostly suicide missions
that end their lives. He stated that Boko Haram’s welfare officers
continue to cater to the needs of suicides’ families, often paying them
huge “gratuities.”
The contact for Boko Haram stated that the planned attacks will
almost quadruple on Sunday when the sect plans to attack several
churches simultaneously to prove their deadly potency. “Boko Haram
intends to show to President Jonathan that his military advisers are
just deceiving him,” said the source.
Apart from attacks on churches, the contact said the sect plans to
attack or take over government buildings in Kano, Kaduna, Yobe and Gombe
states. He added that the sect also plans a major attack on the Federal
Capital territory (FCT) before the end of June to cap its possibly
bloodiest campaign in June.
He said Boko Haram wanted to prove that the
Nigerian security agencies have in no way hampered the sect’s operations
and that security forces cannot match the group’s deadly force.
The contact explained that the decision to intensify attacks this
June was reportedly taken at the sect’s recent “parliamentary” meeting.