Somtochukwu

A factional leader of the Boko Haram insurgents, Abubakar Shekau, has released new audio, threatening the Kaduna-based Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmed-Gumi, over his plans to take preaching to the enclaves of criminals in the bushes.

Recall that the cleric during an interview with the BBC Hausa service had declared his intention to enter into the bushes to preach to the Fulani herders.

According to him, the herders are now being used by the Boko Haram insurgents to perpetuate their terror through killings and kidnapping for ransom.

The cleric stated that these criminal herders needed religious teachings in order to stop their criminality.

But releasing16-minute audio on Tuesday, Mr Shekau warned the cleric against accusing the sect of using the herders for killings and kidnapping for ransom.

Rendering the audio in Hausa language, Mr Shekau stressed that his sect never engaged anyone in either Kaduna-Abuja highway, Niger State, or any other place to kidnap for ransom.

While dismissing the cleric’s claim that the insurgents pay a token of N30,000 to the Fulani accomplices after collecting huge ransom from the kidnap victims, Mr Shekau wondered why the so-called government would employ an individual and pay him N10,000 as a monthly salary.

Mr Shekau said: “We don’t engage or employ anybody to kidnap for ransom. We, of course, know that there are some other people who are using our name to perpetrate criminality, but whosoever uses our name to cause mayhem should know that we are not with him.

“Whosoever wants to identify with us whether he is in Kaduna, Lagos, Benin or America, we are willing to also identify with him. Our call is to Allah, not democracy which is anti-Islamic.”

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