The Nigerian military said Wednesday that it had killed a man posing
as Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau and confirmed that Shekau had been
killed earlier. The announcement comes after previous claims of his
death in 2009 and 2013.
The army also said that 135
Boko Haram fighters had
surrendered their weapons
to Nigerian troops on Tuesday in the northeast town of Buni Yadi, some
200 kilometres (125 miles) west of Konduga in Borno state.
Defence spokesman
Chris Olukolade told reporters in Abuja on Wednesday that the Nigerian army had
killed a man posing as Boko Haram leader
Abubakar Shekau, who Olukolade said had also been killed. He said an
Islamist fighter identified as Mohammed Bashir died in clashes in
Konduga, adding that Bashir was the man who appeared in recent videos
released by the group.
Bashir had been "acting or posing as the deceased
Abubakar Shekau", who Olukolade called "the eccentric character known as the leader of the group".
The military did not say when or how Shekau was killed and the
announcement comes after two previous claims by security sources that he
had died,
one in July 2009 and another in late June 2013.
The many faces of Shekau
A spokeswoman for the Department of State Security Service, Marilyn
Ogar, said again in May that "the original" Shekau was dead, adding that
the man who now appears in videos released by the Islamist group was an
imposter.
Security sources say that the actual identity of the group's leader
may not be key to its operations, as any number of Boko Haram fighters
stand ready to take on the leadership role as required.
Olukolade told the news conference that the name "Shekau" had
become something of a "brand name for the terrorists", and that many
different Boko Haram commanders may have used that moniker.
These include Abdullahi Damasak, who was succeeded upon his death by Mustapha Chad, according to sources close to the group.
In this way Boko Haram may be seeking to bestow a semblance of immortality on its former chief.
But Olukolade said the army was committed to defeating any or all of
the group's leaders. "The Nigerian military remains resolute to serve
justice to anyone who assumes that designation or title, as well as all
the terrorists that seek to violate the freedom and territory of
Nigeria," he said.
Olukolade told the briefing that Bashir had also used several
identities, among them "Bashir Mohammed, alias Abubakar Shekau, alias
Abacha Abdullahi Geidam, alias Damasak, etc."
Washington officially
designated Boko Haram a terrorist organisation
in November last year. The United States also offered a $7 million
reward for Shekau's capture as part of its Rewards for Justice programme
and designated him a "global terrorist".
Britain, Nigeria’s former colonial ruler, and France have also branded the Islamists a "terrorist" group.
Scepticism amid death claims
To prove its claims, the Nigerian military showed an amateur video
recording of the fighting in Konduga in which bodies littered the
streets.
Pointing to a bearded man lying dead on the ground alongside another
slain fighter, Olukolade said: "That character tallies with the one that
has been showing himself on the video."
A close-up photograph of the man's face was projected alongside a
screengrab from a Boko Haram video of Shekau holding an assault rifle.
An arrow pointed out a small growth on the foreheads of both men.
The United States voiced skepticism Thursday over the reports that Shekau had been killed.
"The Nigerians have announced several times that the head of Boko
Haram was dead, and every single time we find out that it is not true," a
senior State Department official told reporters.
Some regional analysts said earlier this week that they also remained sceptical about any such claims.
Ryan Cummings, chief Africa analyst at Red24 risk consultants in
South Africa, said he thought it unlikely that Boko Haram's commander
would have been in the thick of battle in Konduga or anywhere else.
But Jacob Zenn, from the Jamestown Foundation thinktank in the United
States, said the death of a Shekau double in Konduga was plausible.
"It's important to note, however, that Shekau may have had 'doubles'
who appeared in some videos. And the army has a record of being
incorrect about claims of Shekau's death," he said.
He said the truth will likely only be known when another video emerges "from Shekau, or someone who purports to be Shekau".
Army under pressure
Nigeria's military has come under increasing pressure to regain territory lost to the Islamists, who have
seized control of a string of towns stretching over 200 miles along Nigeria’s northeast border with Cameroon in recent weeks.
Thousands of civilians have been forced from their homes in the
latest offensive, joining the more than 1.5 million people who have
already been displaced within Nigeria or who have fled across the border
to Niger, Cameroon and Chad, according to UN figures.
Addressing the annual UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday,
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan vowed to step up the fight against
Boko Haram.
"Let me underline today that we shall not waver until we end this
mindless war on innocents and bring all the perpetrators to justice. We
will triumph over terrorism," he said.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is forbidden" in the
local Hausa language, has been waging an increasingly bloody insurgency
to overthrow the government and
establish an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria since 2009.
The group stole international headlines in April when it stormed a
school in Chibok and kidnapped 276 schoolgirls, most between 12 and 17
years of age.
A month later, Boko Haram released a video in which a man thought to be Shekau
threatened to sell the girls into slavery. In another video released soon after, the man said the militants would free the girls in a
prisoner exchange, an offer the Nigerian authorities rejected.
President Jonathan, who has come under fire for failing to do more to
rescue the girls, told the General Assembly that Nigerian authorities
were still working to free the some 200 schoolgirls still being held by
the militants.
“Although it has been over three months since they were abducted, we
have never relented in our efforts to set them safely free,” Jonathan
told the 193-member world body.
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