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 new sect, which had claimed
responsibility for various acts of
hostage-taking and the November
26, 2012 attack on the Special Anti-
robbery Squad detention centre in
Abuja, has been under security
watch, findings by Saturday PUNCH
have shown.
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.”