THE leader of Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamist group may be dead – he died under somewhat questionable circumstances last month after his capture by security forces – but Malam Mohammed Yusuf’s outfit appears to be very much alive and kicking, according to this report.
And Boko Haramites are very, very angry.
Principal source of their anger is that the name Boko Haram has been widely mistranslated in the “infidel media.”
Apparently we got it all wrong when we said Boko Haram meant “Western education is a sin”. It actually means “Western civilisation is forbidden!”
According to a statement issued by the sect’s acting leader, Mallam Sanni Umar:
We are talking of Western ways of life which include: constitutional provision [relating] to, for instance, the rights and privileges of women, the idea of homosexualism, lesbianism … blue films, prostitution, drinking beer and alcohol and many others that are opposed to Islamic civilisation.
Yes folks, women and gays – once again the source of all the world’s woes!
The statement goes on to declare “total Jihad” in Nigeria, and threatens to Islamise the entire nation by force.
Boko Haram, said the statement:
Is an Islamic Revolution … not limited to Northern Nigeria, in fact, we are spread across all the 36 states in Nigeria, and Boko Haram is just a version of the Al Qaeda which we align [to] with respect. We support Osama bin Laden, we shall carry out his command in Nigeria until the country is totally Islamised which is according to the wish of Allah.
It adds that:
The killing of our leaders in a callous, wicked and malicious manner will not in any way deter us. They have lost their lives in the struggle for Allah.
The statement goes on:
We have started a Jihad in Nigeria which no force on earth can stop. The aim is to Islamise Nigeria and ensure the rule of the majority Muslims in the country. We will teach Nigeria a lesson, a very bitter one.
We shall carry out series of bombing in Southern and Northern Nigerian cities, beginning with Lagos, Ibadan, Enugu and Port Harcourt. The bombing will not stop until Sharia and Western Civilisation is wiped off from Nigeria. We will not stop until these evil cities are tuned into ashes.
We shall make the country ungovernable, kill and eliminate irresponsible political leaders of all leanings, hunt and gun down those who oppose the rule of Sharia in Nigeria and ensure that the infidel does not go unpunished.
We promise the West and Southern Nigeria, a horrible pastime. We shall focus on these areas which is the devil empire and has been the one encouraging and sponsoring Western Civilisation into the shores of Nigeria.
Either you are for us or against us.
There is a good background piece on Boko Haram and religious strife in Nigeria here.