Nigeria rejects boko haram's 'caliphate' claims

Military rejects armed group's claim that it
recently established an " Islamic caliphate " in
northeastern town of Gwoza.
The leader of Boko Haram has claimed that the
Nigerian armed group will rule a northeastern
town as part of an " Islamic caliphate ", a claim
quickly rejected by the military.
"Thanks be to Allah who gave victory to our
brethren in [the town of] Gwoza and made it
part of the Islamic caliphate , " Abubakar Shekau
said in the 52 - minute video revealed on Sunday.
The military rejected the claim, saying in a
statement that the "sovereignty and territorial
integrity of the Nigerian state is still intact " .
Reacting to Shekau's video, Nigerian Defence
Spokesman Chris Olukolade said : "Any group of
terrorists laying claim to any portion of the
country will not be allowed to get away with that
expression of delusion and crime .
"Operations to secure that area from the
activities of the bandits [ are ] still ongoing ."
Earlier this month , heavily armed Boko Haram
fighters stormed Gwoza, spraying the town with
automatic gunfire , burning houses and
overrunning the palace of its traditional ruler ,
the Emir of Gwoza .
Days later , the military launched strikes to push
the Boko Haram fighters out of Gwoza , and the
garrison town of Damboa , which Boko Haram
sacked a month ago.
In the new video, members of the group can be
seen carrying out attacks, with Boko Haram
leader Abubakar Shekau declaring that the
armed group has taken over the town .
"We did not do it on our own . Allah used us to
captured Gwoza , Allah is going to use Islam to
rule Gwoza, Nigeria and the whole world , " the
Boko Haram leader said .
"Some of these messages are preaches so that
people can repent , some of the messages are
advises , while in another way the message is a
display of the way we use the power of Allah so
you can fight him and that is it, " he added .
No word of Baghdadi
In a July video, Shekau voiced support for Abu
Bakr al - Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic
State armed group.
In the previous months, the Islamic State group
has captured large swaths of in Syria and Iraq
and in late June, Baghdad declared himself
"the caliph " and "leader of Muslims
everywhere" .
But there was no indication from Shekau in the
latest video that he was associating himself with
Baghdadi, whose Sunni Muslim fighters have
taken over parts of Iraq and Syria.
As such , it was not clear if Shekau was declaring
himself to be a part of Baghdadi' s call or if he
was referring to a separate Nigerian caliphate .
The military has struggled to stamp out the
highly mobile , combat -hardened fighters of Boko
Haram, who want to carve an Islamic state out of
religiously mixed Nigeria.
The group is seen as the main security threat to
Africa's biggest economy and leading energy
producer .
The violent five- year- old campaign of Boko
Haram has been in the international spotlight
since the group kidnapped more than 200 girls
from a school in the village of Chibok in April .
The girls are still missing .