• Group wants MURIC leaders prosecuted for alleged link with terrorists • Islamic body denies receiving $250,000 from ISWAP Over...
• Group wants MURIC
leaders prosecuted for alleged link with terrorists
• Islamic body denies
receiving $250,000 from ISWAP
Over a dozen farmers and herders have been feared killed by
Boko Haram terrorists at Puciwa and Koleram communities in Magumeri council
area of Borno State.
Confirming the Monday evening onslaught, yesterday, in
Maiduguri, the acting council secretary, Mallam Wali, added that the assailants
injured 16 other villagers and rustled cattle, sheep and goats.
He recollected that the local council also witnessed the
abduction of five employees of an oil exploration firm and the Department of
Geology, University of Maiduguri last year.
The scribe said the neighbouring councils of Gubio and
Gajiram had been under the control of the sect.
“The insurgents stormed the twin farming communities in the
evening (Monday). They also rustled cattle, sheep and goats. Sixteen villagers
were injured besides the over 13 deaths.
He said: “Barely an hour after the attacks, our people had
to flee to Magumeri, 40 kilometres north of Maiduguri, the state capital. Some
of the villagers could only take along with them a few of their personal
effects.”
Wali continued: “We are much terrified by the latest and
deadly attacks by insurgents.
“The whole communities in Gubio/Gajiram axis bordering
Nganzai Local Government Area are daily being terrorised by insurgents.”
He noted that the livelihoods of the fleeing villagers had
equally been destroyed by the invaders.
“But we are doing our best to ensure that the displaced
persons are properly taken care of,” the official stated, adding that the
council was working with security agencies to restore normalcy in the affected
communities.
In a related development, the Christian Rights Agenda (CRA),
yesterday, urged the Federal Government to immediately arrest and prosecute
leaders of the Muslims Rights Concern (MURIC) for their alleged link with the
Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP).
In a statement, it recalled that a member of the Sahara
Strategy Group (SSG), last Friday, called on the President Muhammadu Buhari
administration to investigate reports that some organisations in Nigeria were
receiving funds from ISWAP.
San Lous Keita, a member of the SSG from Mali and former
intelligence chief, had quoted reports that listed MURIC as one of the groups
that had received funds from the terrorist group in the last two years.
“Keita had told the conference that MURIC was said to have
received some $250,000 from ISWAP in the past months,” the statement noted.
The CRA said it was not surprised by the revelation, “given
MURIC’s history of extremist and Islamic fundamentalism.”
But denying the claim in a statement, MURIC director, Prof.
Ishaq Akintola, described the reports as illogical.
He said his organisation had always condemned every act of
terror within and outside Nigeria, reiterating that the establishment’s motto
remained “Dialogue, not violence.”
Akintola said: “Our attention has been drawn to a speculation
making the rounds in mainstream and social media circles that MURIC received
$200,000 from ISWAP. It is a wicked concoction and a lie from the pit of
Jahannam. We declare clearly, categorically and unequivocally that we have
never had any contact with ISWAP or any other terrorist group.”
He went on: “So, how can we descend so low as to collect
money from terrorists? Such lies will not fly. The terrorists themselves know
that we can never support them. So how can they give us money? The allegation
is dead on arrival.
“We are a disciplined group. We have never been known to
engage in any violent protest or attack since we established MURIC in 1994. It
is most diabolical to accuse a group that has pursued peaceful advocacy for 26
years of having any connection with terrorists.”
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