The insurgent group, Jamaatu ahlis Sunnah lil daawati wal jihad, also
known as Boko Haram, has denied carrying out the attack that claimed the
lives of over forty persons, most of them students of tertiary
institutions in Mubi, Adamawa State last week.
A man who claimed to be a senior member of the group, who spoke
exclusively with PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday, said his group had nothing to
do with the killing of students in Mubi.
"We have no business with students or student politics. If students are
our target we would have killed them randomly on sight and in their
school and not sneak on them in the creeping darkness in an area
occupied by both students and residents," he said.
The man, whom independent checks revealed to be a member of the group,
said if the sect wanted to attack educational facilities; it would have
gone for structures not students.
"What would have been our target as far as I am concerned would have
been the building and properties of the institution, since it is owned
by the Government. At least, by now other students elsewhere would have
been attacked if students are our concern," he added.
He said the mode of attack is not characteristic of the sect's numerous attacks.
"Several press releases by our spokesman and Imam in the past have made
it clear who our enemies are, I don't have to repeat it here. I
don'tthink anybody amongst us has the time to draw up a list or read it
out before executing the students."
The group's denial throws another controversy into the likely
perpetrators of the dastardly act, which saw over 40 people, mostly
students of the Federal polytechnic Mubi, killed on October 1 by armed
men. Some were shot while others were slaughtered. Security agencies are
already investigating the criminal act.
We lost members, but so did JTF
The insurgent leader also admitted that the Joint Task Force, JTF, in
various Northern States had killed many of its members; but claimed that
some of those killed were innocent people with nolinks to the group.
He accused the JTF of hiding the casualty figure suffered by the force in various confrontations with the sect.
"We have killed a lot of security personnel in the north especially in
Yobe and Borno state, far morethan the lies the JTF sell to you, media,"
he said; adding that "a significant number of our brothers were killed
but most of the people the JTF have killed have nothing to do with us.
They are just youths in the wrong place at the wrong time."
He said his sect was "not like the JTF that hide their casualties."
"Yes, we suffered some casualties but I want to assure you that our
structure, specialists and armpower are intact, and these crises will
continue tillwe die," he said.
Qaqa alive, may have been captured
The Boko Haram member said the sect's official spokesperson, Abu Qaqa is
still alive. He however refused to confirm if Mr. Qaqa is alive with
the group or is being detained by security agents.A successful search
operation in Kano, in September, by members of the JTF had led to
thekilling of some of the sect's members and arrest of others. One of
the arrested persons is believed to be Mr. Qaqa, according to top
security sources.The Boko Haram leader in his talk, like the
evasivestatement of its overall leader, Abubakar Shekau, would however
not confirm whether Mr. Qaqa hadbeen captured or not.
"Our Imam has made it clear in his last video that Qaqa is alive, but I
cannot answer your queries whether Qaqa is alive with us or with the
security agencies," he said.He said his group was looking at "how best
to communicate with the public."
"Very soon our position will be clear on all these issues, Qaqa and
other sundry issues. We are studying the situation, we are strategizing
our operations.
"I can assure you that we will not suffer any more defeat like we did in the past Insha Allah," he added
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The group says it did not carry out the execution of
about 40 students in Mubi Adamawa. The insurgent group, Jamaatu ahlis Sunnah
lil daawati wal jihad, also known as Boko Haram, has denied carrying out the
attack that claimed the lives of over forty persons, most of them students of
tertiary institutions in Mubi, Adamawa State last week.
A man who claimed to be a senior member of the group, who
spoke exclusively with PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday, said his group had nothing to
do with the killing of students in Mubi.
"We have no business with students or student
politics. If students are our target we would have killed them randomly on
sight and in their school and not sneak on them in the creeping darkness in an
area occupied by both students and residents," he said.
The man, whom independent checks revealed to be a member
of the group, said if the sect wanted to attack educational facilities; it
would have gone for structures not students.
"What would have been our target as far as I am
concerned would have been the building and properties of the institution, since
it is owned by the Government. At least, by now other students elsewhere would
have been attacked if students are our concern," he added.
He said the mode of attack is not characteristic of the
sect's numerous attacks.
"Several press releases by our spokesman and Imam in
the past have made it clear who our enemies are, I don't have to repeat it
here. I don'tthink anybody amongst us has the time to draw up a list or read it
out before executing the students."
The group's denial throws another controversy into the
likely perpetrators of the dastardly act, which saw over 40 people, mostly
students of the Federal polytechnic Mubi, killed on October 1 by armed men.
Some were shot while others were slaughtered. Security agencies are already investigating
the criminal act. We lost members, but so did JTF
The insurgent leader also admitted that the Joint Task
Force, JTF, in various Northern States had killed many of its members; but
claimed that some of those killed were innocent people with nolinks to the
group. He accused the JTF of hiding the casualty figure suffered by the force
in various confrontations with the sect.
"We have killed a lot of security personnel in the
north especially in Yobe and Borno state, far morethan the lies the JTF sell to
you, media," he said; adding that "a significant number of our
brothers were killed but most of the people the JTF have killed have nothing to
do with us. They are just youths in the wrong place at the wrong time."
He said his sect was "not like the JTF that hide
their casualties."
"Yes, we suffered some casualties but I want to
assure you that our structure, specialists and armpower are intact, and these
crises will continue tillwe die," he said.
Qaqa alive, may have been captured
The Boko Haram member said the sect's official
spokesperson, Abu Qaqa is still alive. He however refused to confirm if Mr.
Qaqa is alive with the group or is being detained by security agents.A
successful search operation in Kano, in September, by members of the JTF had
led to thekilling of some of the sect's members and arrest of others. One of
the arrested persons is believed to be Mr. Qaqa, according to top security
sources.The Boko Haram leader in his talk, like the evasivestatement of its
overall leader, Abubakar Shekau, would however not confirm whether Mr. Qaqa
hadbeen captured or not.
"Our Imam has made it clear in his last video that
Qaqa is alive, but I cannot answer your queries whether Qaqa is alive with us
or with the security agencies," he said.He said his group was looking at
"how best to communicate with the public."
"Very soon our position will be clear on all these
issues, Qaqa and other sundry issues. We are studying the situation, we are
strategizing our operations.
"I can assure you that we will not suffer any more
defeat like we did in the past Insha Allah," he added
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