The Federal Government has launched an
offensive against a little known terror group, Jama’atu Ansarul
Muslimina fi Biladis Sudan, which roughly translates as Vanguards for
the Aid of Muslims in Black Africa.
Saturday PUNCH’s investigations showed that security agents had intensified their investigation of the brains behind the new group.
It was learnt that security agents were banking on detained members of Boko Haram and JAMBS to unmask the people behind the new sect.
JAMBS is said to be in its embryonic stage, though deadly like any other terror group.
Security sources told our correspondent that intelligence reports indicated that JAMBS is an offshoot of Boko Haram – the result of the fragmentation of the deadly sect.
It was learnt that JAMBS was
created by Boko Haram commanders who were disenchanted with the
leadership style of the extremist group’s spiritual leader, Mohammed
Shekau.
The group, which is believed to be
affiliated to the Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, said it was behind the recent
kidnap of a French engineer, Francis Colump, in Katsina, citing
France’s push for military intervention in Mali as justification.
The sect stressed in a statement that it
would continue to launch attacks on the French government and its
citizens as long as the government maintained its alleged hostile stance
against veiled women in France as well as the European country’s
support for military intervention in Mali.
It was gathered that the new group is
engaged in low level insurgence against security agencies and the civil
populace in parts of the country, but security operatives would not want
to give it publicity by acknowledging its existence and capability.
“We are not closing our eyes to the
activities of the new sect; in fact, they have been under our radar for
sometime, but we don’t want to give them legitimacy by acknowledging
them. That is why it seems as if security agencies are ignorant of their
antics, but that is far from the truth,” a security source stated.
Findings indicated that while security
agencies were seriously focused on rooting out Boko Haram, the new sect
was not seen as a major problem because it is believed to be “a mere
branch of the Boko Haram tree and once the tree is felled, the branches
will wither,” a source said.
When contacted, Deputy Force Public
Relations Officer, Frank Mba, said the police were determined to tackle
terror groups and sundry criminals in the country.
“Our mission is to fight crime and fight
it effectively; our approach is a holistic one and I think its high
time Nigerians appreciated that our strategies are working. Our
determination to fight crime headlong is unshakeable and we will
continue to record success against crime and criminality in this year,”
Mba said.
Meanwhile, the Christian Association of Nigeria has described the emergence of JAMBS as “the same finger of a leprous hand.”
According to the association, the change
in name from Boko Haram to another group is to elicit attention and
pave way for negotiation.
The Public Relations Officer of the 19 Northern States of CAN and Abuja, Mr. Sunny Oibe, said in an interview with Saturday PUNCH on Friday that the Federal Government should not enter into dialogue with them because they are “criminals.”
He said, “Whether you call them a new
Islamic group or Boko Haram, it is the same finger of a leprous hand;
all of them are the same and their agenda is one. The Islamisation of
this country and intimidation of Christians so that there won’t be
Christianity in the Northern part of the country is part of their
agenda. It is just changing from Boko Haram to another group for them to
get attention.
“The emergence of the new group is to
get attention and our position is that there should be no dialogue with
criminals. You cannot use your left hand to point fingers in your
father’s eyes and such intimidation is not acceptable.”
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