We Did Not Kill the 40
students of Mubi
Polytechnic - Boko
Haram 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