Claims by the Nigerian military that it has demobilized Abubakar
Shekau, the arrogant leader of the Boko Haram sect may be true after
the Islamic sect released a new video without its Shekau.
Nigerian Army recently said Shekau had been gravely wounded in an air strike.
The 13-minute video posted on YouTube late Tuesday was purported to portray
the sect observing the tenets of Islam during the Eid-el- Kabir festival. The video
showed an unidentified man in a flowing white robe holding a sword by his side while
presiding over Eid prayers in what looks like a mosque. The military are yet to comment
on the video, but it appeared real and takes the form of previous videos from the group.
Hundreds of poorly fed villagers and children, who are apparently Boko
Haram supporters, are seen in the video filmed on Monday.
The man says he is representing Shekau, who had allegedly been ousted by
the Islamic State to which Boko Haram pledged allegiance in March 2015.
“My brethren, today is Eid ..in the Islamic Caliphate under the leadership
of Abubakar Shekau, may Allah protect him,” he says, speaking in the local
Hausa language.
The Nigerian army claimed on August 23 Shekau had been seriously wounded
in the shoulder in an air raid in which several commanders were killed.
“We convey our Eid greetings to our brethren all over the world under the
Islamic Caliphate and especially our leader Abubakar Shekau, may Allah
protect him,” the man in the video says.
He then taunts the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, saying Boko
Haram would fight on despite a military crackdown, adding: “No retreat, no
surrender.”
It was not immediately clear if the video, which was technically superior
to previous ones, was shot in Boko Haram’s Sambisa forest stronghold in
the northern state of Borno or elsewhere.
Nigerian soldiers, with the support of regional troops, have recaptured
swathes of territory lost to the jihadists since they launched a military
campaign in February 2014.
Despite earlier claims by the Nigerian government that Shekau had been
killed, the militant leader has resurfaced later in videos.
Last month, the IS replaced Shekau with Abu Musab al-Barnawi, the son of
Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf, in an apparent split in the group whose
insurgency has killed some 20,000 and displaced more than 2.6 million
since 2009.
Though the insurgents have yet to attempt any major attacks in recent months but their remnants
Have continued to wreak havoc in suicide bombs in parts of the north east.
