The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar
Shekau, has described as “propaganda,” the claim by the Defence
Headquarters that he was killed early September in Kodunga, Borno State.
Shekau, in a new video obtained by Agence-France-Presse on Thursday, boasted that “nothing could kill him” until the day Allah stopped his breathing.
Last week, the Director of Defence
Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, told a news conference in Abuja
that troops killed Shekau and that his corpse was identified by the
people of Kodunga.
Olukolade illustrated his claim with
pictures of the bullet-ridden corpse with Shekau’s semblance and a video
of the battle in which he was killed.
He had also said that Shekau whose real
name he gave as Mohammed Bashir had other names like Abacha
Abdullahi Geidam and Damasack.
A day before the DHQ claim, a
newspaper, quoting a military source, reported that Shekau was killed by
Cameroonian soldiers during aerial bombardment of his hideout in
Nigeria.
The Cameroonian newspaper also printed pictures of a bullet-ridden corpse of a man it said was the Boko Haram leader.
A former United States Ambassador to
Nigeria, John Campbell, however questioned the credibility of the
Nigerian military’s claim.
Campbell 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.”
In the new video, Shekau is seen
standing in front of three camouflaged vans and flanked by four heavily
armed and masked fighters.
He wore combat fatigues and black
rubber boots and firing an anti-aircraft gun into the air, Shekau spoke
for about 16 minutes in Arabic and Hausa languages widely spoken in
most parts of northern Nigeria.
But there was no indication of where or when the video was shot.
Denouncing his killing by the military,
the heavily bearded Boko Haram leader, who appeared to be the same as
those in previous clips, said “I hereby put to lie the claim that I was
killed.”
“Here I am alive. I will only die the day
Allah takes my breath,” Shekau said amidst thunderous shout of Allahu
Akbar “Allah is great” from his well-armed lieutenants.
He consequently taunted the military, saying it had nothing to prove its claim.
He said, “I challenge you(military), I
challenge you. You even said I was killed. If you kill me, does that
mean you kill (the) religion? You are not honest. You have no proof, you
have nothing to say.”
The Boko Haram leader boasted that the
wish of President Goodluck Jonathan; President Barack Obama of the
United States; Prime Minister Francois Hollande of France; Queen
Elizabeth and the United Nations Secretary General, Ban-ki Moon, for his
death would not materialise.
He said, “The wish of Obama (United
States President) will not kill me, the wish of Francois Hollande (of
France) will not kill me, the wish of Benjamin Nattanyahu (of Israel)
will not kill me, the wish of Ban-ki Moon(of the United Nations) will
not kill me, the wish of Queen Elizabeth will not kill me, the wish of
the infidels of the world will not kill me, much less of President
(Goodluck Jonathan) , much less of Kashim (Shettima of Borno State ) ,
much less of Bra-Bra (Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Geidam).
“Nothing will kill me until my days are
over. Do whatever you want to do. If you think what I’m doing is not the
truth, even if you don’t fight me I will crumble.
“Nothing will kill me until my days are
over… I’m still alive. Some people asked if Shekau has two souls. No, I
have one soul, by Allah. It is propaganda that is prevalent. I have one
soul.”
Shekau described himself as an Islamic student whose seminary was burnt in 2009.
He was apparently referring to the destruction of the group’s mosque in Maiduguri, Borno State that year.
Shekau also claimed that Boko Haram
fighters shot down the NAF fighter jet which was on routine operational
mission but did not return on September 12, 2014.
A man the sect leader claimed was one of
the two pilots aboard the plane was shown in the latest video stating
that the jet was brought down by “fighters of the Jama’atu Ahlis
Sunnah.”
The ruin of an aircraft with the insignia of the NAF was also shown.
The pilot, who said he did not know the
whereabouts of his colleague, was thereafter decapitated with an axe
by an executioner who dressed in (military) fatigues.
In the video, Shekau said he had gone far
in ensuring that Sharia was strictly observed in Boko Haram’s “Islamic
Caliphate” and showed footages in which a man “convicted of adultery”
was stoned to death.
The right hand of another man accused of
“stealing” was chopped off while an unmarried young man and a young lady
“convicted of fornication” were given 100 lashes each.
But the DHQ however said it was studying the claims made in the new video.
It said, “From immediate observation and
what some online news outlets claimed to have seen, the video did not
indicate when it was shot neither did it show any proof of life or
currency such as screen time or date.
“The video also did not make any reference to anything that has happened since the impostor’s reported death.
“It is also noteworthy that the air plane
said to be mentioned in the video had been missing before he was
killed. It should not surprise anybody if the terrorists decided to
manipulate pictures, clone another Shekau or upload a pre-recorded video
all in a bid to prove invincible.
It further stated in a short statement on
its official blog that as far as the military was concerned, the
individual who appeared in the latest video was killed in the
Konduga battle in September.
The DHQ argued that the resemblance of the corpse and that of the “eccentric character was incontrovertible.”
It said, “While waiting to see the new
video before any further statement, our message to them (insurgents) is
that justice will be served to whoever bears that name(Shekau) or
designation(leader of Boko Haram).”
There had 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.
Boko Haram had issued denials in video messages.
A united Arab Emirates-based Nigerian
journalist, Ahmad Salkida, has said that it was “witless” for the
military authorities “to ascribe cosmetic science to Boko Haram that
cannot even develop arms and ammunition instead depend mainly on looting
the Nigerian Army armouries.
“Most of you are educated and as a
country, we can’t manufacture even toothpicks but some ‘Almajiris’ have
suddenly become scientists before our watch.”
Tweeting on Thursday, Salkida, who is
believed to have links with the insurgents, said, “If Boko Haram can
perfect the art of cloning either through medical research or by way of
photography then the entire world must be concerned. That means, they
can perfectly mimic some leaders and have undue access? They can as well
develop nuclear bombs and drones.”
