How true is this?: ‘I am alive, hale and hearty’, says ‘Shekau’

Boko Haram sect leader, Abubakar Shekau

Who is telling the truth: Soldiers or terrorists? More than one month after the Nigerian Army claimed to have killed the Boko Haram sect leader, Abubakar Shekau, a man Wednesday claimed to be Shekau and said he was never killed by men of the Special Military Operational Forces on June 30, 2013 in the Sambisa Forests of Borno State. It was a surprise in the military and political circles in Abuja when news filtered in that the reported death of Shekau may have been a ruse after all. 

 Sources contacted in Abuja all expressed surprise at the news. Director of Army Public Relations, Brig Gen Ibrahim Attahiru, however, told The Guardian that “yes, we have equally heard of the report. But we will make efforts to investigate and try to know exactly what happened.”

If the report turns out to be true, it would confirm the cautionary stance of the Defence Headquarters was the right posture when the initial reports of Shekau’s death came in last August. While Defence Headquarters was hesitant to announce the death, the spokesman of the Joint Task Force in Maiduguiri, opted to go ahead and announce the death. The now controversial Shekau, who said the Nigerian Army should bury itself, spoke in a video released to newsmen in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital Wednesday.  ‘Shekau’, in the video, was said to have appeared in a military camouflage uniform and surrounded by seated hooded insurgents. He was said to have claimed responsibility for September 17, 2013 attacks at Benisheik town of Borno where more than 150 people were either shot dead or slaughtered by suspected Boko Haram gunmen.

The ‘sect leader’, in the video said: “Here I am, alive, hale and hearty. Sagir Musa should bury himself in shame, President Jonathan of Nigeria, should bury himself in shame, President Obama of United States of America should bury himself in shame, President Francois Hollande of France should bury himself in shame, Queen Elizabeth of England should bury herself in shame. “They said I am dead, but here I am. The world should know that I am alive and will only die at the appointed time. Everybody should be judged according to the dictates of his conscience. What I am doing is written in the Holy Qur’an and the Hadith and I will not stop. I challenge all the clerics of the world to question my deeds.   Those underrating my capacity should have a re-think. I will never allow democracy to thrive.   “The concept of government of the people by the people and for the people will never be possible and will never exist. Democracy shall be replaced only by the government of Allah, from Allah and for Allah.”

He was said to have even boasted that the Nigerian military will never subdue his group. “Nigerian soldiers are late. After killing many of them in Monguno and Benisheik, we have snatched their armoured carriers and Hilux van and then hoisted Islamic flags on them. We now move freely with them,” he said. The spokesman for the military task force fighting the Boko Haram insurgents, Colonel Sagir Musa had, in an e-mailed statement on August 19, claimed that Abubakar Shekau, was “probably dead”. Citing intelligence reports and though he did not provide any evidence to support his claim, Musa said the Boko Haram leader died following injuries he sustained on June 30, when his group clashed with security forces  in the Sambisa forest.

“Shekau was mortally wounded in the encounter and was sneaked into Amitchide, a border community in Cameroon, for treatment,” Musa said. “Shekau might have died between July 25 and August 3.”  On August 14, the Ministry of Defence had said the group’s second in command, Momodu Bama, was killed in clashes with security forces. Bama’s death “has been confirmed by other arrested terrorists,” ministry spokesman Chris Olukolade said at the time. That claim has not been independently verified either.

Source: (The Guardian)