Australian “crisis negotiator”, Stephen Davis has really set the media ablaze with his recent allegations regarding Boko Haram sponsors. Davis aroused our sleeping consciousness when he alleged in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) that Islamic terrorist sect, Boko Haram, was being funded by Nigerian politicians. But this wasn’t the main news as many Nigerians are aware of that fact. In a subsequent interview with Arise TV, Davis went further to name former Borno State Governor, Modu Sheriff and former chief of army staff, Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, as sponsors of the group.
Davis had visited Nigeria to negotiate the release of the over 200 schoolgirls abducted since April by Boko Haram terrorists. He previously worked as a negotiator for Nigerian government under ex-Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Shehu Yar’Adua administrations during the Niger-Delta militants uprising in the South-South.
Davis said:
“First thing to do is to arrest the former Governor Sheriff. Former Governor Sheriff has been funding this for years. He is satisfied that he will be picked up and he has now switched to the ruling party, PDP, in the hope this will give him protection.
“That guy is really a bad guy and he is known to be corrupt and why the EFCC has not picked him up is anybody’s guess.
“There is a former Chief of Army Staff, who retired in January, rightly sacked by the President, who is another sponsor.”
Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nasir El-Rufai immediately supported Davis’ claims, saying: “Many of us have made very open allegations that elements within the government and outside must have been financing and directing the affairs of Boko Haram.
“The revelations by Stephen Davis are only confirming the suspicion that some of us hold and have held since October 2010 when the first bomb exploded in Abuja and that was the beginning of a new trend in terrorism in our country.”
He said right from the onset, the Boko Haram phenomenon pointed to the fact that the ruling party and the government were somehow involved in terrorism.
“It began in October 2010 when the first bomb exploded in Abuja and President Goodluck Jonathan declared that it was not MEND that was responsible for the bombing.
Now, how would a President, without security briefing, from investigation, declare that a terrorist group which had claimed responsibility for bombing was not responsible unless he knew who was responsible?” he asked.
Both Sheriff and Ihejirika have denied the allegations. Here, however, since it is a known fact that northern Muslims are strongly behind Boko Haram, I do not want to dabble into this Sheriff issue.
On his part, perhaps Ihejirika felt he had no business with this foreigner who he must have considered simply abnormal. Rather, it was El-Rufai Ihejirika descended on, stating plainly that El-Rufai is actually a Boko Haram commander. “The commanders”, he said, “including El-Rufai, know where the problem is. He should stop deceiving Nigerians by trying to divert attention.”
“The likes of El-Rufai have been supporting Boko Haram. In fact, El-Rufai and his likes are the same group of people that ensured the army did not get the requested equipment to deal with this menace once and for all, as they used their cohorts to tell the government that procuring modern equipment were not necessary.”
Of course, as usual, Jonathan was also implicated in the saga. A former member of the National Assembly, Farouk Adamu Aliyu, said that it is President Goodluck Jonathan who is funding the activities of Boko Haram. Aliyu claimed, in an interview with Sahara TV, that he has documented evidence which proves Jonathan’s guilt. He stated that he is seeking the help of America’s President, Barack Obama, to arrest Jonathan.
The question many Nigerians are now asking is this: how has Ihejirika, a non-Muslim, become a Boko Haram sponsor?
Asked to explain why Mr. Ihejirika, a non-Muslim who hails from the predominantly Christian south eastern part of Nigeria, became a Boko Haram “sponsor,” Mr. Davis said: “Boko Haram commanders and some connected with them told me on several occasions Ihejirika was one of their sponsors.”
This is fantastic, and interesting too! It is equally interesting that Boko Haram members didn’t tell Davis any other thing—about why they are fighting, the need to rule Nigeria according to the tenets of Islam, etc—except revealing their sponsors. It is interesting that Boko Haram commanders, who of course are Abubakah Shekau’s men, did not read to the hearing of Dr. Davis that famous speech delivered by their Master, I mean, Mr. Shekau’s 28-minute video, delivered in Hausa, which reads:
“My brethren…you should hold on to your weapons and continue fighting. Let them understand that our work is not confined to Yobe, Borno and Adamawa (states). Make them understand that we are not restricted by emergency rule. They should understand we are under the canopy of Allah.
“This is the beginning. Yes, this is the beginning.
“We Jama’atu Ahlissunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad are fighting Christians wherever we meet them and those who believe in democracy, those who pursue Western education wherever we meet them. By Allah, we will kill whoever practises Democracy.
“And you the infidels of Rivers state, Niger (Delta), the town of Jonathan, Shekau is talking to you (sounds of gunshots). Shekau is talking to you, that small boy that has become the nightmare of infidels is talking to you.
“Oh you the leader of the Niger Delta, you will soon see your refinery destroyed. You will in the incoming days see your refinery you are boasting about bombed. Our refinery is Allah.
“Niger-Delta you are in trouble. Jonathan you are in trouble…Banki Moon you are in trouble, Benjamin Natanyahu you are in trouble, Queen Elizabeth, you are in trouble, Babangida, Kwankwaso, Shekarau, Kashim, Buhari, you are in trouble.
“Yahaya Jingir…the cleric of Jos, the advocate of ‘Boko Halal’, right? We are Boko Haram, you are Boko Halal. You will see, bastard.
“We killed Albani of Zaria. We killed Albani of Zaria. Shekau killed Albani of Zaria. Tomorrow he will kill Jingir, the day after tomorrow he will kill Dapchia, the next day he will kill Wapchama, next he will kill Shehu of Borno, Ado Bayero. We rebel against you, between us and you is enmity and rancour until you believe only in Allah.
“The reason why I will kill you is you are infidels, you follow Democracy…Whoever follows Democracy is an infidel. This is Shekau, this is why I’m in enmity with you.
“Buhari is an infidel, Babangida is an infidel, Atiku is an infidel, late Yar’adua was an infidel, Shehu of Borno is an infidel. You are all infidels. What makes you infidels is Democracy and constitution and western education…I therefore call on brethren in Kano to rise up and replicate the Baga attack.
“All these infidels we are the ones killing them. We enjoy shedding their blood. The Quran must be supreme, we must establish Islam in this country. Not only in Borno, we will henceforth destroy any school wherever we see them.”
Jonathan Ekene Ifeanyi
