Jonathan, Buhari are infidels, says Shekau

The Boko Haram Islamist sect on
Tuesday claimed responsibility for
the attack on a multinational
military base in Baga, Borno State,
during which about 2,000 people
were killed on January 3, this year.
The sect leader, Abubakar Shekau,
in a new video on You tube also
taunted Presidents Paul Biya of
Cameroon, Mahamadou Issoufou of
Niger and Idris Deby of Chad.
He also expressed disdain for
President Goodluck Jonathan, and
the presidential candidate of the All
Progressives Congress in the
February 14 presidential election,
Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari
(retd.), describing them as infidels.
Shekau, who spoke in Hausa said,
“Jonathan, you are in trouble. And
Buhari, do you think he is a true
Muslim? He’s an infidel.”
The insurgents, who invaded Baga
early this year, razed many
buildings and homes in the week
that followed, shooting civilians as
they tried to flee, witnesses said.
Some local officials put the death
toll as high as 2,000, although the
military said it was 150.
The video was in the trademark
Boko Haram style, with the bearded
man claiming to be Shekau in
combat fatigues and surrounded by
masked gunmen.
“We are the ones that carried out
the attack and it is just the tip of
the iceberg. There are more
coming,” he said.
On the weapons the insurgents
seized from Baga, he said they
were enough to annihilate Nigeria.
Soldiers fled the area after the
nearby army base, which is the
headquarters of a multinational
force comprising troops from Chad,
Niger and Cameroon, by Lake Chad
was overrun. Chad and Cameroon
are being drawn into the fight
against Boko Haram, but mistrust
has hampered cooperation.
Meanwhile, the International
Criminal Court’s prosecutor, Fatou
Bensouda, has condemned the
escalation of “appalling levels of
violence” in the North-East and
warned that she would prosecute
members of any party responsible
for war crimes and crimes against
humanity.
Bensouda said her office had
continued a preliminary
examination into allegations that
Boko Haram extremists were killing
large numbers of civilians, using
girls and boys to participate in the
conflict and forcing massive
numbers of people from their
homes.
She also warned the Federal
Government of its obligation to
prosecute crimes that “deeply
shock the conscience of humanity.
“No one should doubt my resolve, if
need be, to prosecute those
individuals most responsible for
war crimes or crimes against
humanity,” Bensouda said in a
statement from the court’s
headquarters in The Hague on
Tuesday.
Boko Haram has increased the
ferocity and tempo of its attacks in
recent weeks, with international
outrage over reports that as many
as 2,000 civilians may have been
systematically slaughtered in the
January 3, 2015 attack on Baga town
and the military base at the border
with Cameroon.
The sect had also increased attacks
on Cameroon, raising fears that the
conflict was spreading and
prompting the country to deploy
troops to defend its borders with
Nigeria.
Niger’s Foreign Minister, Bazoum
Mohamed, told a meeting on
Tuesday of the Economic
Community of West African States
to discuss a collective response to
Boko Haram, saying that the Islamic
militants are no longer a Nigerian
problem but they threaten the
security of the region.