The
leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau has debunked claims by Nigeria Defence
Headquarters that he was killed early September in Kodunga, Borno State.
Shekau
dismissed Nigerian military’s claims of his death in a new video obtained by Agence-France-Presse on
Thursday and said the militants had implemented strict Islamic law in captured
towns.
He was seen firing weapons in the new video.
He was seen firing weapons in the new video.
“Here
I am, alive. I will only die the day Allah takes my breath,” Shekau said,
adding that his group was “running our Islamic caliphate” and administering
strict Sharia punishments.
Last
week, the Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, said
during a news conference in Abuja that the corpse of the insurgents’ leader was
identified by the people of Kodunga.
Olukolade illustrated the Defence authorities’ claim with pictures of the bullet-ridden corpse with Shekau’s semblance and a video of the battle in which he was killed.
Olukolade illustrated the Defence authorities’ claim with pictures of the bullet-ridden corpse with Shekau’s semblance and a video of the battle in which he was killed.
He said that Shekau whose real name was Mohammed Bashir had used
other names like Abacha Abdullahi Geidam and Damasack.
Nigeria’s military said last week that Shekau was dead and that a man who had
been posing as the group’s leader in the videos had been killed after fighting
with troops in the far northeast.
Security
analysts and the United States questioned the credibility of the military’s
claim.
According to a former US Ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell, it is hard to believe Shekau was killed by Nigerian troops.
According to a former US Ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell, it is hard to believe Shekau was killed by Nigerian troops.
He
said, “Who knows whether Shekau is alive or dead? The question may not matter
much. As Boko Haram’s resurrection after the killing of its genuinely
charismatic leader, Mohammed Yusuf, shows, the movement is remarkably
resilient, and not dependent on a single leader.
“If
Shekau is alive, as I suspect he is, evidence is scant as to what his actual
role in the movement’s leadership is. Boko Haram is more than Abubakar Shekau,
alive or dead.”
The
new 36-minute video showed Shekau, in combat fatigues and black rubber boots,
standing on the back of a pick-up truck and firing an anti-aircraft gun into
the air. Standing
in front of three camouflaged vans and flanked by four heavily armed, masked
fighters, he then speaks for 16 minutes in Arabic and the Hausa language widely
spoken in northern Nigeria.
There
was no indication of where or when the video was shot.
The
heavily bearded Shekau, who appeared to be the same as those in previous clips,
said the military’s claim that he was dead was propaganda.
“Nothing
will kill me until my days are over… I’m still alive. Some people asked you if
Shekau has two souls. No, I have one soul, by Allah,” he said, apparently
reading from a script.
“It
is propaganda that is prevalent. I have one soul. I’m an Islamic student.
“I’m
the Islamic student whose seminary you burnt… I’m not dead,” he added,
apparently referring to the destruction of the group’s mosque in the Borno
state capital, Maiduguri, in 2009.
There
have been two previous claims by Nigeria’s security forces that Shekau was
dead. The first was in 2009 during unrest in Maiduguri and again in 2013.
Following
each previous claim Boko Haram has issued denials in video messages.
Elsewhere
in the new video, the terrorist group’s leader said the Boko Haram had
implemented strict
Islamic law in the towns that it had captured in recent
weeks.
“We
are running our caliphate, our Islamic caliphate. We follow the Koran. We now
practise the injunctions of the Koran in the land of Allah,” he added.
The
group also claimed to have shot down a Nigerian air force jet that went missing
nearly three weeks ago.
An
air force spokesman said the jet was missing.
“For
any group to claim they shot it down is mere propaganda and rubbish,” Air
Commodore Dele Alonge told AFP.
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