onlookers gather around a car
destroyed in a blast next to St. Theresa
Catholic Church in Madalla, Nigeria
after an explosion ripped through a
Catholic church during Christmas Mass
near Nigeria's capital Sunday, killing
scores of people, officials said. A radical
Muslim sect, Boko Haram, claimed the
attack and another bombing near a
church in the restive city of Jos. (Photo
Credit: AP/Sunday Aghaeze)
New information credited to self-
appointed Boko Haram negotiator,
Australian Dr. Stephen Davis continue to
flood the Nigerian media.
The lastest is reported by Vanguard in
which Davis provides what would
appear to be new insights into how the
group known as Boko Haram became
unimaginably brutal. He gave insight
into how Abubakar Shekau hijacked the
Islamist group.
"The Boko Haram we see today is not
the Jama'atu Ahlul Sunnah Lih Da'awa
wal Jihad (JAS) that was operational
under Yusuf – former JAS leader killed
by the police in 2009", Davis told
Sunday Vanguard in an interview.
In the online interview, Davis said:
"Shekau formed Ansaru which he used
for kidnapping and beheading victims.
This behaviour was a major departure
from the original mandate of the JAS
which was to purify Islam and return it
to the exemplary life of the Prophet.
Many among the JAS leadership are no
longer active and others have been
killed. This has allowed Shekau to take
the JAS to a more extreme action and
expand the frontiers of kidnapping,
bombing and slaughtering. The Boko
Haram we have today is a much
expanded Ansaru. What we see now is
not the Yusufiya which wanted very
much to settle a score with former
Governor Ali Modu Sheriff. It is Boko
Haram as a partner to ISIS and Al
Shabaab".
Davis admitted that he came to Nigeria
in April to facilitate the release of the
Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram,
but denied that he was engaged by
any party and therefore had no
obligation to report to anyone.
He claimed to have interacted with
former commanders of Boko Haram and
others close to Boko Haram during his
visit to Nigeria.
However, the latest twist to controversy
surrounding Davis' actual role in the
Boko Haram kidnapping of Chibok
schoolgirls is that a Nigerian who
negotiates with the Islamist sect has
come forward to deny that Davis ever
met with any Boko Haram commander
during his visit to Nigeria. The Nigerian
negotiator challenged Davis to provide
evidence of who he met, essentially
calling Davis a liar.
Earlier, Davis had created a storm by
naming former Borno governor Sheriff
and former Chief of Army Staff Ihejirika
as Boko Haram sponsors. He claimed he
got this information from Boko Haram
commanders he spoke with while in
Nigeria.
The Australian also claimed to have
secured the release of 60 Chibok
schoolgirls , only for them to be
recaptured by a faction of the Boko
Haram sect.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
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