A POLITICAL movement under the aegis of Save Humanity Advocacy Centre, SHAC, in Jos, Plateau State on Saturday expressed fears over a new video allegedly promoting a Boko Haram commander, Shuaibu Moni, who is said to be one of the prisoners of the insurgent sect recently swapped for the release of the 82 Chibok Girls.

The video, SHAC said, is allegedly being promoted by a known Boko Haram ally and propagandist, Ahmad Salkida, “who claims to be journalist and is hiding under the noble profession to justify his possession of this terrorist material.”

Leonard Pukat, executive director of SHAC, in a statement, said it had become apparent that the terrorists’ spokesman, Salkida is back to his old haunts and would do anything to seek relevance and ingratiate himself on the undiscerning.

He said, “His old trick was  to cause panic and drive spanners in the wheel of progress and it is apparent this has not changed. We learnt Slakida, who fed fat on phantom peace deals and fictional ceasefires under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, lost out in the negotiations that freed the Chibok girls and is now trying to reinvent himself by promoting the supposed new video.

“The previous ceasefire talks he had been part of turned out to be nothing but well choreographed performance by paid actors and international jobbers. His present outing is nothing short of this fraudulent arrangement.

“Even when coming from a known fraud, we call on the Nigerian Military and other security agencies to keep an eye on Salkida and his associates. Such persons, who were at one time or the other campaign coordinators for Boko Haram to get soft treatment, might have become desperate and eager to cause panic and apprehension in the minds of citizens who are going about their peaceful life.

“Authorities must however not treat the threats from Salkida and the actors in his video with levity as past experience have proven that they would do anything, including killing and maiming the innocent with bombs, to make the point about their relevance.

“The nation’s security agencies must therefore go after Boko Haram’s propaganda arm now before they have the time rebuilds their scare infrastructure using the swapped prisoners as justification to terrorize Nigerians. Salkida’s point of view tallied smugly with the projections of some other notable collaborators and roles of such people in reviving the terror machinery must also be investigated.

“Nigeria’s military, which observes the highest rules of engagement possible, must henceforth take a cue from the so called superpowers of the world that do not take terrorists prisoner since experience has shown that such criminals do not relent until they are eliminated in battle. Any Boko Haram prisoner that was swapped for the Chibok Girls and goes back to fighting the Nigerian state deserves no soft treatment even if a thousand Salkidas campaign for such.”

– May 13, 2017 @ 6:00 GMT