Boko Haram declares Gwoza ‘Islamic Caliphate’ + Excerpts of the transcribed speech by Shekau

In a 52 minute video made available to AFP, the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, declared the creation of an Islamic caliphate in Gwoza town in Borno state seized by the sect early this month.

According to AFP, Shekau declared that Gwoza now has 'nothing to do with Nigeria'. 

"Thanks be to Allah who gave victory to our brethren in (the town of) Gwoza and made it part of the Islamic caliphate. By the grace of Allah we will not leave the town. We have come to stay,” said Shekau.

Find the excerpts of the transcribed speech by Shekau after the cut.

Meanwhile the Nigerian Military has reacted to Shekau's claims, saying the claim is empty. The military says appropriate military operations to secure Gwoza from activities of the bandits is still ongoing. Continue...

Excerpts of the transcribed speech by Mr. Shekau below... "I chose to deliver this message in order to refute the lies being spread by the government, about the operations we had in recent times.

"We warn the vigilantes called civilian JTF to back off; if not, there will be no place for them to hide. We have evidence of how you killed some of our brethren whom you would ask if they were Boko Haram members before you killed them. We know how you humiliated them by asking them if they had ever carried guns or killed someone…We know everything about the evil you committed against our brethren.

"We still have the magnanimity of asking you to repent because you will never succeed in this way by the grace of Allah. And I swear by Allah that we will never stop killing you, because Allah commanded us to kill people like you. If we pity you and spare you, one day you will become infidels. So, to us, having pity on you is an act of disbelief. You can continue to run or hide your identities in women’s attire, but we will get to you and remove the women’s clothing off of you. Then, while you are shouting for mercy, we will strike, smash your heads and kill you all. Even if you don't do anything to us we will kill you...We would do it even to avenge our brethren. You killed our brethren in large numbers.

"We don't joke with religion (quoting from the Koran). There is no hypocrisy in this religion. It is only the truth. 

"We are not proud of our strength, nor with our weapons nor with anything we have but we are only proud of victory from Allah the exalted. Victory is only from God. Who is America in the sight of Allah? Who is America in the sight of Allah? Who is Israel in the sight of Allah? Who is France in the sight of Allah?”