[PMNEWSNIGERIA] A man accused of being an informant has been beheaded by Islamist group Boko Haram.... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
The incident was recorded in a video obtained Tuesday in which the victim accused of being an informant appears to be beheaded on camera.
Suspected leader of the group, Abubakar Shekau, denies any ceasefire deal with the government and also makes no mention of kidnappings in the video, including last month's abduction of seven members of a French family in neighbouring Cameroon that was blamed on his group.
It was not clear when or where the video was made. The clip has been distributed to Nigerian journalists in the country's north in recent days through intermediaries.
Shekau and other Boko Haram members. PHOTO: AFP
Sources familiar with Boko Haram say it was handed out in this manner because Nigerian authorities have been blocking the group's videos from being uploaded to YouTube.
AFP could not verify the authenticity of the video but the man speaking closely resembles a person identified in previous clips as Shekau.
There are two separate parts to the video: one of Shekau speaking and another of the apparent beheading. Shekau cannot be seen in the second part.
The video is in part a response to a man claiming to be a Boko Haram commander who has appeared in public several times in recent months calling for dialogue and declaring a ceasefire.
There has been deep suspicion over whether the man calling for the ceasefire has truly represented Boko Haram.
"We have never made a truce with anybody, and no one represented us in any dialogue," Shekau, wearing a knee-length green caftan and with an AK-47 dangling from his neck, says in the video, which is about 10 minutes long.
Speaking in the Hausa language common throughout northern Nigeria, he names the man who made the ceasefire claim, Sheikh Muhammed Abdulazeez Ibn Idris, and promises punishment for those who falsely represent the group.
"We have not entered into dialogue with anyone," he says. "Which kind of dialogue, for God's sake, when day and night our brothers are being placed in durance vile
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
, imprisoned, including women and kiddies?"