The audio recording allegedly recorded by factional leader of the Jihadist group, Abubakar Shekau, stated, “I am Abubakar Shekau and our brothers are behind the kidnapping in Katsina.”
He also said that the act was to discourage “un-Islamic practices such as Western education,” adding that the government was not teaching the pupils what Allah and his Holy Prophet commanded.
“What happened in Katsina was done to promote Islam and discourage un-Islamic practices as Western education is not the type of education permitted by Allah and his Holy Prophet,” he said.
“They are also not teaching what Allah and his Holy Prophet commanded. They are rather destroying Islam. It may be subtle, but Allah, the Lord of the skies and earth, knows whatever is hidden. May Allah promote Islam. May we die as Muslims. In a nutshell, we are behind what happened in Katsina.”
365Daily recalls that Shekau, in 2014, orchestrated the abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State.
The Federal Government, in several statements, had blamed local bandits for the crime, with the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, saying the Army had located the hideout of the bandits where the abducted boys were being kept.
A presidential press statement also disclosed that military operation was under way with an attack active.
The kidnappings occurred in the home state of President Muhammadu Buhari, who has condemned the attack and ordered security stepped up in schools.
Similarly, the state governor, Aminu Masari, ordered closure of all schools in the state. He later disclosed that the government is negotiating with the abductors.
Boko Haram, and a splinter group the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), are waging an insurgency in Nigeria northeast and are thought to have only a minor presence in the northwest.
But concerns have grown of jihadist inroads into the region, especially after fighters claiming to be in the northwest released a 2020 propaganda video pledging allegiance to Boko Haram’s leader.
Buhari has made the fight against the group a priority, but the security situation in northern Nigeria has deteriorated since his 2015 election.
#BringBackOurBoys has been trending on social media since the weekend — a reference to a similar hashtag used after the girls’ 2014 abduction.