Members of the notorious Ansaru terrorist group have commenced massive recruitment of residents around communities in Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
Ansaru, a splinter group of the dreaded Boko Haram terrorists, has been operating in Birnin Gwari villages for years.
It was gathered that members of the group had besieged the villages of Damari, Farin Ruwa, Kwasa Kwasa, Kuyello, Gobirawa as well as Tabanni, Kutemeshi and Kazage in a clandestine recruitment strategy masked in the form of Sallah celebration with the people.
A cross-section of villagers who spoke said the terrorists distributed Sallah gifts in the form of biscuits, performed motorcycle stunts to the delight of villagers and distributed pamphlets, flash disks and other accessories on the activities of the group.
Birnin Gwari, located in Kaduna Central Senatorial District has been infiltrated by bandits with the southern and eastern parts of the area being the worst hit.
On April 5 this year, terrorists suspected to be members of the group attacked a military formation along the Kaduna-Birnin Gwari highway and killed 11 soldiers, four villagers and injured many others.
The terrorists also bombed two Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) attached to the security personnel.
When contacted, Kaduna State Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, said the government was aware of the threat by the Ansaru having received intelligence report.
He said the issue has been reported to the appropriate authorities.
Content of the pamphlet
A five-page pamphlet titled; We are not Boko Haram but Ansaru, was said to have been circulated by members of the Ansaru group in an attempt to lure residents to join their group.
The pamphlet was written in the form of questions and answers. It stated that “Our name is Jama’atul Ansaril Muslimina Fi Biladis Sudan.”
The pamphlet also claimed that the group’s mission is pure jihad, free of extremism to praise the words of Allah, adding that its difference from other jihadist groups is that its ideology is based on the Sunnah of the Prophet and past scholars. But security experts who spoke to our correspondents dismissed the claim, saying the government, clerics and traditional rulers must rise to the occasion so as to avoid a repeat of what happened in the North East.
They said people with extreme religious tendencies are fond of using soft words to deceive the gullible to submission before showing their violent disposition, which is against the teaching of Islam.
The group said in the leaflet; “Whoever believes in Shahada and faces Qibla (the east) to pray is considered a Muslim to us and so deserves to be protected just as we would protect ourselves and our family members. We will celebrate with him in times of happiness and mourn with him in terms of sorrow. He is free from our harm and we are not going to hand him over to his enemies.
“Planting bombs in markets, mosques and motor parks among other places is not what we believe in because, in these places, the majority of the casualties are the poor people. We are not out for materialism because if this is what we wanted, we would have remained in our parents’ houses to enjoy the world. We are also not out to seek for positions or support any political party or tribe or any worldly thing.”
