TheCable

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has threatened to kill Paul Biya, president of Cameroon.

Although the sect is known for employing videos to issue threats to highly-placed people, like it recently did to Muhammad Sanusi, emir of Kano, this is the first time that Boko Haram would send a death threat to any high-profile citizen of any other country.

Based on its proximity to the north-eastern part of Nigeria where Boko Haram strikes on frequent basis, Cameroon has suffered several attacks from the group.

In an interview with Voice of America, Monouna Fotso, an official in Cameroon’s ministry of education, who accused Boko Haram of traumatising the country’s citizens, said regular cross-border attacks have virtually halted academic activity along Cameroon’s 500 kilometer boundary with Borno state.

“The objective of this Boko Haram is to traumatise our citizens,” Fotso lamented.

“If there are some localities where the situation is so bad, at the level of the government, we will relocate some schools. At that moment also, we will bring the staff and students to new sites.”

Cameroonian forces have, therefore, also been involved in killing members of the sect, which Shekau is clearly displeased with.

Only in December, the country’s air force launched its first air operation against the insurgents after Boko Haram overran a military base and attacked five villages.

But Nigeria’s ministry of defence later claimed to have conducted the operation, refuting the claim of Didier Badjeck, spokesman of Cameroon army who said Biya ordered the operation.

Biya, who has vowed that his government would wipe out Boko Haram, has taken decisive actions against the group, including sacking two senior officers over the inability to contain the excesses of the insurgents.

“Oh Paul Biya, if you don’t stop this your evil plot, you will taste what has befallen Nigeria,” Shekau said in Arabic during an 18-minute video released on Youtube on Monday.

“If you do not repent, you will see the dire consequences. Your troops cannot do anything to us.”

“I advise you to desist from following your constitution and democracy, which is unIslamic. The only language of peace is to repent and follow Allah, but if you do not, then we will communicate it to you through the language of violence.”