Amid the dust raised by his allegation linking a
former governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu
Sheriff, and an erstwhile Chief of the Army Staff,
Lt. General Azubuike Ihejirika, with the
sponsorship of Boko Haram, an Australian
negotiator, Dr. Stephen Davis, at the weekend,
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 interview conducted online, the negotiator
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Many among the JAS leadership are no longer
active and others have been killed.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 JAS and others close to Boko
Haram during his visit to Nigeria.
Davis didn't speak with real Boko Haram leaders
– Nigerian negotiator
Meanwhile, a Nigerian negotiator claimed,
yesterday, that Sheriff and Ihejirika could not have
been Boko Haram sponsors as the two men were
actually sworn enemies of the Islamist group.
The negotiator, who didn't want to be named for
security reasons, told Sunday Vanguard that
neither Sherrif nor Ihejirika was a sponsor of the
sect.
The source, who has been assisting the
government to find a lasting solution to the
insurgency in the North-east, pointed out that
Sheriff was even one of the three most wanted
enemies of the sect. He did not say who the other
two were.
"The statement credited to advise that Sherriff
and Ihejirika are sponsors of Boko Haram is far
from the truth because, as at today, the former
Borno governor remains one of the three worst
enemies of Boko Haram", he stated.
"I can tell you that the group has not forgiven
Sheriff over the killing of its leader, Mohammed
Yusuf, who was arrested and killed during his
tenure as governor".
Confirming the claim by Davis that he was not
hired by the Nigerian government to broker peace
with the sect, the source said that the Australian
came on his own to secure the release of the
Chibok girls.
He said that while in Nigeria, Davis never met the
real commanders of Boko Haram but depended on
information from a member of the Presidential
Committee on Dialogue and Amnesty for
information on the activities of the sect.
The source blamed what is now playing out on
the issue of Boko Haram sponsorship on the
information given to Davis by the member of the
presidential committee.
He said,"We can say with all amount of
seriousness that Davis did not meet the
leadership and main commanders of Boko Haram
during his visit to the North-east.
"If Davis insists that he met with any senior
commander or leader of the sect, we challenge
him to mention their names and ranks".
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