By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
A policy expert with the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, Bulama Bukarti, has warned against dismissing the claim by the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, that his group was behind the abduction of the Katsina schoolboys.
Shekau had in a 45 seconds audio recording claimed that the Boko Haram cell in Katsina state abducted the more than 300 Katsina schoolboys in the remote town of Kankara.
The federal government has largely blamed the growing insecurity in Katsina and other North West states on bandits. The initially report about the abduction of the schoolboys was also attributed to the bandits.
There have also been suggestions that Shekau may only be latching on the chaos to claim credit for the abduction which many thought was done by bandits.
But Bukarti said he would not be too quick to dismiss Shekau’s claim.
He said in a tweet thread that such a hasty dismissal was also done during the Chibok schoolgirls kidnap when Boko Haram claim responsibility.
“We’ve seen several pieces of evidence this year that Shekau has created cells in Niger and Zamfara states. I’ve constantly rang the alarm on this. The attack itself bears Boko Haram hallmarks. Some residents said they heard the attackers screaming “Allahu Akbar” during the attack. Bandits don’t do that. Some of the boys that escaped said the victims have been divided into smaller groups. That’s what Shekau did to the Chibok girls. That’s why I started suspecting since two days ago that Boko Haram could be the culprit,” he said.
