In a newly released video, the Abubakar Shekau-led faction of Boko Haram, Jama’atu Ahlussunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, has claimed responsibility for the gruesome murder of 78 farmers in the Zabarmari area of Borno State on Saturday.
The news that the migrant farmers who were from Sokoto State, North-west Nigeria, were tied and slaughtered by the terrorists sent shock waves throughout the country. After beheading the farmers, the terrorists burnt their farms.
The BBC reports that in the newly released 3-min:37-second video titled “رسالة جديدة” (a new message), Boko Haram accused the farmers of arresting one of its members and handing him to the Nigerian military.
“You think you can nab our brother and hand him to soldiers and live in peace,” a masked commander of the group asked in the video. You think Allah will forget what you have done to our brother,” he asked rhetorically.
He also warned those who had arrested Boko Haram terrorists or have been spying against them to await a similar fate.
“The third message is on those who notoriously nab our brethren and hand them to the military or give them a clue on us,” he warned. You should know that, unless you repent, what happened to your people is awaiting you.”
Zabarmari, the place where the attack occurred, is said to be located less than 20 kilometres from the Counter-Insurgency Operation Lafiya Dole command centre in Maiduguri, the state capital. Forty-three (43) of the slain victims of the massacre were given a mass burial led by the state governor, Babagana Zulum.
