Is Abubakar
Shekau, the eccentric Boko Haram leader, dead? Is the war-monger still
alive? These were some of the questions hanging on the lips of
discerning members of the public yesterday when the military said the
face of Boko Haram on video was dead.
The Cameroonian military seemed to have
stirred the hornet’s nest when it announced few days ago that it had
killed Shekau. In a rare public show by the Cameroonian Armee
Camerounaise (Cameroonian Army), photos of Shekau were made public
alongside a statement claiming he was killed during a cross-border raid
deep inside Nigeria by its military. Last weekend, it said that Shekau
was killed following an aerial bombardment of his hideout inside
Nigeria.
But, reacting to the latest news of
Shekau’s death, the Nigerian military said it would probe the veracity
of the claim. There seemed to be a twist in the tale yesterday when the
Nigerian military announced that it killed Mohammed Bashir, who had been
an impostor. According to the spokesman for the military, Major General
Chris Olukolade, Bashir, who assumed Abubakar Shekau, the name of the
eccentric leader of the sect, was the one killed in a counter-terrorism
operation in the north-east.
Last year August, the military had told
the world that it had killed the man Shekau. But series of video
denouncing his death put doubts in the minds of the public.
“This is a victory from Allah,” said
the wanted insurgent leader after claiming to have destroyed “21
armoured tanks” and killed “multitudes” in raids.
The video release followed a similar one
released last September after the insurgents attacked Benisheik, Borno
State, where about 160 people were either shot dead or slaughtered and
hundreds of houses burnt. In the video, Shekau was filmed sitting in a
jungle environment, surrounded by dozens of lieutenants – all dressed in
fatigues. He said Boko Haram was celebrating victories in Benisheik,
where more than 143 civilians were killed, in Monguno and surrounding
northern villages where more than a dozen civilians were killed that
month.
There were many questions last night on
Shekau: Is Shekau another Jomo Gbomo, the infamous spokesman of the
once-dreaded Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND)?
Will another Shekau show up? If so, when?
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