The almost 13-minute film, posted on YouTube and circulated via social media, shows large numbers of people, including children, gathering for what appear to be Eid prayers in several unknown locations. The video shows various groups of people praying in a mosque and in an outdoor clearing Monday, according to the narrator, which was the day of the Islamic feast.
A preacher addresses the crowds in the mosque and then again later outside, carrying a sheathed sword that is drawn towards the end of the video. The preacher, speaking in the Hausa Language native to northern Nigeria, says he is speaking on behalf of long-time Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, who does not appear in the video.
“Message to the infidels and the leader of the entire infidels, who is the president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, that he should know we are very strong and doing very good,” said the speaker. The speaker also stated that the group will “capture Buhari with our hands.”
The Nigerian army claimed on August 23 Shekau had been seriously wounded in the shoulder in an air raid in which several commanders were killed.
It was not immediately clear if the video, which was technically superior to previous ones, was shot in Boko Haram’s Sambisa forest stronghold in the northern state of Borno or elsewhere.
The video message further underlined tensions within the group and its movement away from Daesh (also known as Islamic State or ISIS).
Shekau had in March last year pledged allegiance to Daesh and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Unlike previous videos, there was no sign of Daesh banners or any acknowledgement of al-Baghdadi during the 13-minute footage. The speaker also referred to the group as Jama’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihad – the name it used before it was commonly called Boko Haram.
The two factions within Boko Haram are led by Shekau and Abu Musab al-Barnawy, son of the late leader of the group who Daesh recently acknowledged as the leader of its “West Africa province”. That recognition brought the split into the open, with Shekau accusing al-Baghdadi of ignoring him and his followers.
•Pieced together from stories in Newsweek, The Guardian and Anadolu Agency. Photo shows the screen shot of the latest Boko Haram video.
Source News Express
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