Nigeria: Boko Haram fighter claims group plans to bomb Abuja in video released May 12

Event

An unverified video obtained by media sources on Friday, May 12, shows a purported Boko Haram fighter who claims that the group is planning "more bomb attacks" in the country, including the capital Abuja. In the video, the man and the four others who flank him are armed and speaking the Hausa language, which is widely used in northern Nigeria.

The Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria's state security agency, announced in April that it had foiled plans by Boko Haram to attack the Embassy of the United States and the British High Commission in Abuja.

Context

Attacks by Boko Haram, which pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) in March 2015 and formally adopted the name of Islamic State in West Africa, typically target cities and towns in northern Nigeria. Public venues (markets, places of worship, schools, bars, areas where broadcasts of sports competitions are displayed, etc.) as well as security forces and governmental buildings are frequently struck by attacks, suicide bombings (targeted or untargeted), and kidnappings (regularly followed by assassination and targeting primarily foreign nationals). Al Barnaoui, son of Mohammed Yusuf - the founder of Boko Haram - was nominated by IS in August 2016 to replace Abubakar Shekau, leader of Boko Haram since 2009. Since then, the two leaders have been leading dissident factions with mixed ambitions, Al Barnaoui blaming Shekau for massacring civilians rather than focusing on military targets

Advice

The security environment in Nigeria is complex and particularly poor in the northeast and extreme south of the country due to the presence of armed groups, high crime rates, and the risk of kidnapping. Some Western governments consequently advise against travel to certain areas of the northeast (e.g. states of Borno, Yobe, Gombe, Bauchi, and Jigawa as well as parts of Kano and Adamawa states) and the southern Niger Delta region (e.g. states of Delta, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, and Rivers). Professional security advice and support should be sought prior to travel to these areas.