Maiduguri, Nigeria - The Islamic Religious sect, Boko Haram, has claimed responsibility for the killing last Friday in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital of seven people including the brother and cousin of the state governor, Senator Modu Sheriff.
The sect in posters written in Hausa and pasted across the length and breadth of Maiduguri Wednesday morning signed by the Warriors of Jamaatu Ahlis Sunna Liddaawati Wal Jihad led by Imam Abu Muhammed Abubakar Bi Muhammed a .k .a Shehu claimed they embarked on the killings in Borno "in an effort to establish Sharia system of government in the country".
The group also threatened to wage a full scale war in the country "starting from Borno and extending it as far as Lagos if Sharia system of government was not introduced in Nigeria".
The Boko Haram text translation is as follows : "In the name of Allah the Beneficent the Merciful Definitely, we the warriors of Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati Wal-Jihad, under the leadership of Imam Abu Muhammad Abubakar Bi Muahammad, popularly known as (Shekau) are responsible for the attacks launched in Borno on Friday 23-14-32 (28th Jan. 2011), which led to the killing of Alhaji Modu Fannami Gubio, the gubernatorial candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and the brother of Governor Ali Modu Sheriff and the security men attached to them "As we have been telling the around the world, these attacks we are launching, just like the one we launched on the eve of Christmas in Borno and Suldaniyya (Jos) and the ones we are launching in Bauchi, we are actually doing these (attacks) in order to propagate the name of Allah and to liberate ourselves and our religion from the hands of infidels and the Nigerian government.
"We are therefore calling on Muslims in this part of the world to be wary because very soon, we would launch a full scale war.We also call on the people not to sit close to where security agents or politicians are living because such people are behind the illegalities being meted on the Muslims.
"As you can see, security agents have been deployed to Churches to guard them while the same security agents are the ones maltreating the Muslims.This is the time for all of us to rise and change this government, and give way to Muslim government.
"Finally, anyone of you that assisted them, will receive the same punishment like them.
Message from the warriors of Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati Wal-Jihad