Ansaru releases video of slain hostages

By Our Reporters, with agency reports
LAGOS — A video of the seven slain foreign hostages was released, yesterday, by Islamist group, Ansaru, forcing the international community to mount pressure on Nigeria to accept the classification of Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation, FTO.

Nigeria has shunned pleas by Western countries led by United States of America, to accept the classification of Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation, FTO.

Interior Minister, Comrade Abba Moro, however, said there were hopes that the hostages reportedly killed,weekend, were  still alive. His Information counterpart, Mr Labaran Maku, on his part, said he had not been fully briefed on the situation.

This image released by the SITE Intelligence Group on March 9, 2013, reportedly shows the executions of seven foreign employees of the Setraco construction company kidnapped on February 16, 2013 by the Nigerian Islamist group Ansaru

Meanwhile, the images of the slain hostages in a video released on YouTube showed  some of the corpses of the seven hostages. According to the Associated Press, ”the images matched the still images of hostages released by the group when they claimed the killings.”

Interior Minister, Abba Moro, told the BBC’s Hausa language radio service that “those nations said it was ‘likely’ that their citizens had died in the attack. We hope they’re alive.”

But some of the European countries affected, namely Greece, Italy, Britain have confirmed the death of their nationals just as diplomats said on Sunday that the hostages had been killed.

The hostages, one each from Italy, Britain and Greece and four from Lebanon, were working for a Lebanese firm, Setraco.

In the video, a gunman stands on a  sand, holding a rifle near what appears to be dead bodies. A later shot in the video showed three male corpses, one of whom appeared  to have been killed by a gunshot wound to the head from a high-powered weapon.

The video had no sound. An accompanying caption for the video in Arabic calls it: ”The killing of seven Christian hostages in Nigeria.” A second caption in Arabic and English stated: “In the name of Allah Most Beneficent Most Merciful,” Reuters reported.

Ansaru fighters kidnapped the foreigners February 16, from a camp of the construction company, Setraco at Jama’are, a town 200 kilometres north of Bauchi, the capital of BauchiState. In the attack, gunmen first assaulted a local prison and burned police trucks, authorities said. Then the attackers blew up a back fence at the construction company’s compound and took over, killing a guard in the process, witnesses and police said.

Why hostages were killed

Ansaru, in a statement Saturday, had claimed that it had killed the seven foreigners taken hostage from a Lebanese construction site in Bauchi in mid-February. The video also showed  a series of close-ups of their faces lit up by a torch, according to a Reuters report.

“British and Nigerian security forces killed some Muslims in their attempt to rescue the Christian hostages, therefore we killed the Christians,” Ansaru said in the statement.

The United States has over the years maintained that Boko Haram and its affiliates are terrorist organisations which must be marked down for special attention but the Federal Government has opposed such move on grounds that it will endanger the lives of other Nigerians who would be marked down for special treatment.

Diplomatic sources told Vanguard, yesterday, that the Federal Government’s resistance to classification  of Boko Haram as  a Foreign Terrorist Organisation, FTO,  is ridiculous because “the group’s link with Al-Qaeda is not in doubt, its mode of operation is not different from that of other terrorist groups in Asia and the Middle East. Now the abduction and killing of foreigners have upped the ante. What will be your government’s argument for arguing that Boko Haram should not be classified as FTO.”

According to a source, “what is clear is that foreigners have become the target of this terror politics in Nigeria.

“What the terrorist groups are trying to do is to tell the world that if they are displaced in Mali, they can safely operate in Nigeria, knowing that the Federal Government is not united in the war against terrorism. There are enemies within the government, which is making it difficult for foreign countries to trust Nigeria with intelligence.”

Collapse of physical boundary between Nigeria and Mali

Prof. John Amoda, an expert in international relations, told Vanguard that what took place in Bauchi has collapsed the physical boundary between Nigeria and Mali. He said the terrorists are setting up Nigeria for a possible clash with members of the UN Security Council.

Amoda said: “Strategically, the capture of French nationals in Cameroon and transporting them to Nigeria has turned Nigeria into another Northern Mali as the Al-Qaeda Jihalists that planned the action had put the country in a position as a safe haven for the Jihadists and could be attacked in the same way as it has done in Northern Mali. This is a situation that will compromise Nigeria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Western govts confirm death of hostages

The western governments confirmed the death of the hostages, but denied carrying out any rescue operations. Sources said the aim of Ansaru is to incite foreign countries against Nigeria by embarking on economic jihad, which will see them attack economic infrastructure and business ventures that have foreign workers.

We’ve not been fully briefed — Maku

Meanwhile, days after governments of western countries confirmed the murder of their nationals by the terrorist group, Minister of Information,  Mr. Labaran Maku, appears to be  groping in the dark as he claimed ignorance on the true position of things.

The minister told State House correspondents, yesterday, that he did not have information on the true position of the alleged murder of the hostages.

The Information Minister, who curtly told State House correspondents that “I don’t have the full brief to brief you,” and  walked away,  declined to comment on the listing of Nigeria as a terrorist state by France over the incident.

It portrays Nigeria as unsafe country  —Activists

Outrage has also greeted the alleged killing of seven expatriate hostages as human rights activists argued that this is an evidence that the country lacks adequate security and a sign that little is being done by the government to safeguard lives and property of the citizenry.

In his reaction to the killing, Lagos lawyer and rights activist, Mr. Bamidele Aturu, said: “The killing is an evidence that the Federal Government and the security agencies are clueless and do not know how to respond to the issue of emergency. Life has suddenly become so cheap and there is a lot of incompetence on the part of the authorities. It is only God that can save us.

“So, Nigerians should mount pressure on government to perform and provide adequate security for the people. This is because if there is no security, democracy is meaningless. Democracy flourishes where there is peace and security.

“Generally, people see Nigeria as an obscene place to do business. Definitely, this will affect business and have effect on the economy of the country. Nigerians should make up their minds and see what can be done on the present situation.”

The country is not safe for foreigners —Odumakin

Mr. Yinka Odumakin said: “The killing has shown that the country is an unsafe place for a foreigner to come to. It shows that it is a jungle, where life is short and brutish. It is also an indictment on our security outfits that they cannot rescue those people, who were butchered by the merchants of death. I don’t know the amount of propaganda and campaign that the government can do to convince the world that the country is safe.

“The killing is unfortunate and it is a big challenge to the government of this country. It is time for the government to gather its act together and improve on the security not to turn the country to a pariah state.”

In his reaction, Senator John Shagaya said if it is true that the seven foreigners were actually killed in the country, the nation’s drive for direct foreign investment would be greatly affected.

Shagaya told Vanguard that since the Federal Government had not made an official statement on the issue, it is difficult to believe. However, he noted that should it be true that the foreigners were actually killed “it will count against our investment drive and our economy.”

The former minister of internal affairs under Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, also explained that the incident if confirmed is “most unfortunate.”