Shekau vows to defeat regional force in videos

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau vowed in a new video released yesterday that the group would defeat a regional force fighting it in the northeast, Niger and Cameroon.
“Your alliance will not achieve anything. Amass all your weapons and face us. We welcome you,” he said in a 28-minute speech in one of three videos posted by the Islamists on YouTube.
Troops from Nigeria have been backed by soldiers from Chad, Cameroon and Niger in recent weeks because of increased concerns about Boko Haram’s threat to regional security.
In the second of the videos, images of the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, are shown along with archive footage and a voiceover recalling a battle between British colonial soldiers and fighters from the Sokoto Caliphate in northern Nigeria.
Shekau has namechecked al-Baghdadi before but appears to be positioning Boko Haram in a wider jihadi context by showing the Sokoto Caliphate, which was dismantled by the British in the early 20th century.
“We never rose up to fight Africa. We rose up to fight the world,” he said.
“We are going to fight the world on the principle that whoever doesn’t obey Allah and the Prophet to either obey or die or become a slave.”
Shekau dismissed the size of the multinational force, which had previously been set at about 7,500.
“You send 7,000 troops? Why don’t you send 70 million? This is small. Only 7,000? By Allah, it is small. We can seize them one-by-one. We can seize them one-by-one,” he said in Arabic.
Shekau also directly threatened Chad’s President Idriss Deby, whose forces have attacked Boko Haram in the northeast Nigerian towns of Gamboru and Malam Fatori in recent days.
Shekau’s challenge came after the United States said on Friday that Boko Haram could face a stronger test against more capable regional forces.
Washington estimates that Boko Haram has a core of between 4,000 and 6,000 fighters but is well-equipped after raiding Nigerian Army positions.
In the second video,  members of the sect were enforcing Sharia laws in an unnamed location where “offenders” were being punished.
Two young men are receiving lashes of cane for allegedly committing adultery. Another young man’s right hand is chopped off for stealing while a third person is stoned to death for alleged fornication.
The video shows a town inhabited with plenty residents, including women and children and many Boko Haram fighters shouting Allahu Akbar meaning “God is Great”.
The third video shows the December 1, 2014 invasion of Damaturu, the  Yobe State capital.
In the video, the insurgents come into the town in an armoured personnel carrier, driving through Gujba road  down to the Government House in Hilux vehicles and motorcycles.
No fewer than 50 vehicles and cache of ammunition stolen during the Damaturu attack are displayed.
“We had a field day in Damaturu, ate and dined, took what we wanted and thereafter drove out of the town at our own volition, with all the vehicles, ammunition and other things we wanted to take along,” he said.
Shekau walks away majestically saying he has nothing to do with Gen. Muhammadu Buhari or President Goodluck Jonathan.
He also called on the Niger Delta militants to come and face him as they claim.

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