Aug. 1, 2014
A high-level Nigerian security source told SaharaReporters that Nigeria’s intelligence agencies have received “credible reports that Boko Haram has developed an ambitious plan to overwhelm and take over Kano, Kaduna, Niger, Kogi and Nasarawa states.”
The source said the Islamist terrorist group plans to carry out its design by intensifying its bombings and choosing locations that would yield high casualty figures.
“Their move is to encircle [Nigeria’s capital city of] Abuja and increase the level of political instability in the country,” our source revealed.
The high-level intelligence agent disclosed that the shape of the terror group’s plans have emerged from the confessions of some Boko Haram insurgents who were captured recently. “We have also acquired a lot of information about their [Boko Haram’s] plans through our interrogation of Aminu Sadiq Oguche.” Mr. Oguche, who was recently extradited to Nigeria from Sudan, is accused of masterminding some of the recent high-profile bomb blasts in Nigeria, including explosions at a bus station in Abuja that claimed more than 100 lives. In addition, security agents have gleaned “significant and useful intelligence” from interrogating one Mohammed Zakari, described as “the chief butcher” of Boko Haram. Mr. Zakari was recently arrested in Bauchi, capital of Bauchi State.
Our source said that Nigeria’s security agencies are stepping up counter-insurgency measures to forestall Boko Haram’s plans to spread its tentacles to the states they are targeting.
“Apart from information we have gathered from interrogating suspects, we are also tracking critical conversations by the group’s hierarchy and examining sensitive documents recovered after recent raids on their bases in Bauchi, Jigawa and Borno states,” the source said.
Our source added that President Goodluck Jonathan and a few other government officials had been briefed about the new threats by Boko Haram as well as the outline of the plans to counter the group’s ambitious push.
A senior Islamic scholar in Northern Nigeria, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said his group was cooperating with the government to defeat Boko Haram. “We discussed with President Jonathan when we met during the end of the Ramadan fast and told him that we are ready to help stop Boko Haram. But we also told him that this is something the government must take action on. We’re doing our own, but we have limitations,” he said.
