“The second group we will also attack soon
are PUNCH, Daily Sun, Vanguard, Guardian,
Nation, Tribune, and National Accord”
The Islamic fundamentalist sect, Boko
Haram, has threatened to attack PUNCH and
six newspapers, all based in the South. The
sect issued the threats in an 18-minute
video posted on Youtube.
The sect did not cite the region where the
media houses are located as a reason for
the threats. However, the media houses
listed for attacks are based in the South
while those given warnings are based in the
North.
The video message also contains a live
coverage of the bombing of the Abuja office
of ThisDay newspaper on Thursday by the
sect.
The full transcript of the video is below.
“This is a message from the public
awareness department of the Jamatu Ahlis
sunnah lil daawati wal jihad, a group
engaged in jihad in Nigeria.
“We wish to explain about the attack we
carried out on ThisDay newspapers. Some of
the reasons why we decided to attack some
media houses, especially ThisDay, is because
the paper was used in dishonouring our
prophet, Mohammad (SAW), during a beauty
pageant in Kaduna in November 2002.
“At that time, some people who called
themselves leaders of Muslims came out to
say they had forgiven those who committed
the offence.
“But based on our knowledge, we know
that no one has the power to forgive
anyone for an offence that God himself has
given judgment, especially on an offence
that has to do with dishonouring Prophet
Muhammad (SAW).
“No one has the power to forgive this type
of offence, and the judgment is for such
persons to be killed.
“This lady that committed this crime, the
judgment on her is to be killed at any
opportunity; and the media house is also
supposed to be driven out of existence
whenever there is a chance to do so.
“We are just getting the opportunity to
attack the media house, and we are hoping
to continue these attacks until we drive
them out of existence.
“It is our hope that Allah (SWT) will help his
religion.
“We know that any genuine Muslim must
have been deeply touched by the Thisday
incident.
“ThisDay newspaper is also leading in
helping the government in fighting us,
alongside other media houses that we will
mention soon.
“Some of the offences of ThisDay and other
media outlets include: firstly, during the
botched attempt to rescue some kidnapped
foreign nationals in Sokoto; these media
houses asked us if we have anything to do
with the kidnap and we said we have
nothing to do with it, yet these media
houses reported that we were responsible
for the incident, that was a lie against us.
“Secondly, when we sent a video of our
leader, Abubakar Shekau, the media houses
reported things that our leader did not say,
such as that in response to the president’s
threat to finish us in three months, we have
also threatened to finish the government in
three months. But the truth is, nowhere in
the video did our leader say what they
attributed to him.
“Thirdly, on the purported arrest of Abu
Qaqa by the SSS, we have come out to tell
them that the person arrested was not Abu
Qaqa,yet the media continue to portray us
as liars, and even said that our leader had
ordered for Abu Qaqa II to be executed, and
we are now searching for Abu Qaqa III.
“Recently too, they came out with another
lie that one Mohammed Awwal Kontagora
was the Abu Qaqa II that was executed, and
that even his parents confirmed it, that was
just a big lie to convince the world.
“The media also said that we have killed the
father of Abu Darda, so as to pass a
message to him, because he had leaked our
secrets after his arrest by security agencies,
and they wanted him to know that he is one
of our targets.
“These are all lies, and they are many.
“These media houses have committed a lot
of offences that are detrimental to Islam,
and we don’t have the power to forgive
them. We will take revenge on them by God’s
grace, some of these media houses have
been categorised into three groups.
“The first group is the likes of ThisDay
whose offences are big.
“The second group we will also attack soon
are Punch, Daily Sun, Vanguard, Guardian,
Nation, Tribune, and National Accord, which
are all newspaper houses.
“There is also VOA Hausa radio. All these
media houses we will attack them including
their staff and offices, by God’s grace.
“VOA Hausa for instance has recently started
campaigning for people to support the
government against us by exposing us.
“The next group that are on the verge of
joining this list who if they are not careful
we will attack very soon include, Leadership,
Daily Trust, Peoples Daily and RFI(Radio
France international).
“There is an online medium known as
Saharareporters who have their office in
New York, and who have made their site as
a platform for attack against Islam. So we
are warning them to stop making their site
an avenue for attacking Islam, otherwise we
will find a way of attacking them too.
“We resorted to using this medium to send
our message instead of the normal tele-
conference because of the fear by
journalists; which made them refuse to
conduct the conference.
“We are grateful to God for the success
recorded on the attack on Thisday, and we
hope to continue such attacks.
“Finally, the government has now resorted
to arresting our wives and children and also
demolishing our houses, like they did in Biu
recently, that is why we have also resolved
to start attacking government schools,
especially, tertiary ones.
“We promise to demolish 500 buildings for
any one of our houses that the government
destroys. We have already started with
Gombe and Kano.”


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