By John Ikani
Boko Haram and its breakaway faction, ISWAP have mended fences and jointly picked a new leader, called Aba Ibrahim Al-Hashimiyil AlKhuraishi.
In a 13-minutes long video obtained by PRNigeria, an army of terrorists belonging to the rival extremist groups reunited themselves, after they individually placed their hands atop one another, while chanting words of solidarity, to demonstrate their reuniting and togetherness.
The terrorists who spoke in Arabic, Hausa, English and Fulfulde pledged allegiance to Aba Ibrahim Al-Hashimiyil AlKhuraishi, whom they unanimously called ‘Khalifan Muslimai’or “The Leader of all Muslims”.
The terrorist element who first spoke, extended his greeting to their new Leader, Khuraishi, thanking him for bringing them together, eventually.
Pledging his loyalty, he said every member of Boko Haram and ISWAP should be happy that they are now united.
Another terrorist, while speaking in Hausa, ‘warmly’ greeted Al-Hashimiyil Khuraishi, assuring that he and his colleague-insurgents will not flout his orders and commandments.
He expressed delight that they are now back as one ‘indivisible entity, after the mutual hatred that hitherto divided them, gave way.
Another ISWAP fighter, who was wielding a sophisticated gun hung on his neck, thundered: “What is left now is Jihad. We will not stop fighting the unbelievers. All the disbelievers have entered trouble.”
According to the daredevil terrorist, every Boko Haram and ISWAP member must be ready to fight under the directive of their new leader, for them to survive, and succeed.
One of the speakers confirmed the report that intelligence services played critical roles in creating divisions in the camps of the terrorists when he claimed that, “the enemies succeeded in dividing us, but we are now back.”
What you should know
ISWAP broke away from Shekau’s Boko Haram faction in 2016 after pledging allegiance to Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Clashes between the Shekau-led group and ISWAP are said to be not uncommon by local sources.
Following reports of Shekau’s death in May, ISWAP fighters sustained their aggressive onslaught against the Abubakar Shekau’s faction of Boko Haram terrorists, killing and arresting some of the rival sect’s commanders and members.
The ISWAP leadership vowed to eliminate all terrorists belonging to the Shekau group, if they refuse to surrender.
