– ‘Foreign support’ –
The United Nations Security Council last week designated Boko Haram an Al-Qaeda-linked organisation, in a move designed to curb any overseas funding and support, as well as restrict its leaders’ movements.
But analysts have questioned whether the sanctions would have any effect on the ground, given the Islamists’ largely localised campaign of murderous violence to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria.
Others have expressed concern that the international attention has even legitimised and enhanced Boko Haram’s status within the wider, global jihadi network, which could prompt more support from other extremist groups.
President Jonathan has referred to Boko Haram as “Al-Qaeda in Central and Western Africa”, given long-suspected links between the group and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
Badeh touched on possible foreign assistance to the militants, saying that weapons recovered during operations were “very alien to Nigerian armed forces, which means there are people from outside fuelling this thing (the insurgency). READ: Nigerian police order tighter security at schools.
“Mr President said we have Al-Qaeda in West Africa. I believe it 100 percent because I know that people from outside Nigeria are in this war. They are fighting us.
“They want to destabilise our country and some people in this country are standing with the forces of darkness. We know. We must salvage our country. We must bring sanity back to our nation.”
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