Boko Haram will take over Africa, Shekau boasts in new video.

Posted on March 17, 2017 by Staff Reporter

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Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, has appeared in a new video released on Friday urging his fighters to persist in their insurgency against democratic governments until the sect takes over most countries in Africa and enthrone Sharia particularly in Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Mali.

In the video, he displayed identity cards, arms, ammunition and other equipment purportedly seized from the Cameroonian Army.

Shekau, who maintained that his men will not back down, also refuted recent attacks in Libya and threatened some world leaders.

The 27-minute footage, sent to media houses in Abuja by a journalist with known contact to Boko Haram, has Shekau thanking his loyal followers.

Three days ago, the sect released a video claiming to have killed some three men allegedly working for government as spies.

Source: Daily Post

Female suicide bomber disobeys Shekau, surrenders to Army.

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Staff Reporter

A teenager, Amina Yusuf, paraded by the military on Wednesday in Maiduguri said she failed to detonate her explosive because she did not subscribe to Boko Haram ideology.

The 17-year-old told newsmen in Maiduguri that she was abducted five years ago, alongside her parents, in Madagali in Adamawa, after a terror attack on the village.

“I was abducted alongside my parents in Madagali in Adamawa after the terrorists attacked our village. We were taken to a camp in the bush where we were forcefully indoctrinated by the group,” she said.

The suspected suicide bomber alleged that her parents were killed after they had refused to be indoctrinated .

“My parents were executed because they did not join the group.

“I was married off to a Boko Haram militant with whom I lived in the camp,” she said.

“One day I was asked to wear the bombs. I was brought to Maiduguri with an instruction that I detonate the bomb where there is large crowd of people”,the teenager added.

She said that she declined to detonate the explosive because she did not want to die.

“They said I should press the button but I refused and allowed security men to capture me alive.

“My four siblings are still with the terrorists in the camp,” Yusuf said.

Maj.- Gen. Lucky Irabor the Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole had presented her along with two unindentified girls to newsmen during a weekly briefing in Maiduguri.

Source: Pulse

Shekau: My people attacked UNIMAID mosque because of its ‘ungodly’ acts

Posted on January 17, 2017 by Staff Reporter

Abubakar Shekau, leader of the Boko Haram group, has taken responsibility for the bomb blasts that occurred at the University of Maiduguri, Borno state, on Monday.

On Monday, suspected Boko Haram suicide bombers attacked a mosque and another location within the university.

The blasts killed four people and injured 17 others, as of first count.

In a audio recording published on YouTube, Shekau said the mosque was attacked because it was “ungodly”.

He reiterated that the Nigerian army did not kill any of his members in the Sambisa forest.

“The bomb that happened this morning, it’s my people. Don’t deceive people that it’s a mosque, how would you build a mosque and do ungodly things in it,” Shekau said in the recording.

“We are not angry with Nigeria. You didn’t kill anyone in Sambisa. We are praying that we don’t change; Koran is our teacher; this is the message we are sending to you. Are you [Buhari] as powerful as God?

“You should know it’s Shekau talking and I’m alive and it’s we that did it, even if King Pharaoh repents, we will not accept it.”

Source: The Cable

Boko Haram Claims Responsibility For Attack On Nigerian University Of Maiduguri

Posted on January 17, 2017 by Staff Reporter

The leader of Boko Haram Islamist terrorist group, Abubakar Shekau has claimed responsibility for the dawn attack on a mosque at the University of Maiduguri. The attack carried out by a 7-year old suicide bomber killed a university professor and 3 others. Security forces said they foiled a third attack near the university by killing another suicide bomber strapped with a suicide vest.

Shekau released an audio in Hausa last night claiming they carried out the attack because the university was mixing “Islam with democracy.”

He said “we carried out the University of Maiduguri Bomb at the mosque.

“We did it because they are mixing Islam with democracy.”

“We carried out the attack in the morning and I am speaking to you this evening.”

“Here in Maiduguri and you will see more of this attacks.”

Army ‘recovers’ camouflage of Shekau’s security guards

Posted on January 12, 2017 by Staff Reporter

The Nigerian Army says it recovered more items of suspected Boko Haram insurgents during a mop-up operation around Camp Zairo in Sambisa forest.

Lucky Irabor, theater commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, said this while briefing reporters in Maiduguri, Borno state capital.

Irabor said the items included a pair of black uniform with camouflage design often used by security guards of Abubakar Shekau in his videos.

“On January 5, at about 1000hrs, our troops conducted a mop-up operation around Camp Zairo general area and recovered additional Boko Haram terrorists’ items,” he said.

“They included a pair of black uniform with camouflage design on the edges, a précis on motar operation written in Arabic, one big size of the Qur’an, and 4 notebooks containing names of terrorists.

“The items also include a list of the terrorists locs, a list of IED materials and method of preparation and breakdown of quantities of arms and ammunition issued to their members.

“There were also some instructions written in Arabic and a small Boko Haram flag with Arabic inscription.”

If I knew Shekau’s whereabouts, I’d grab him by the balls – Army Commander

Posted on January 5, 2017 by Staff Reporter

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Lucky Irabor, theatre commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, says if he knew Abubakar Shekau’s whereabouts, he would find him and “grab his balls”.

Irabor said this at a press conference in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, while responding to a question on the whereabouts of the sect’s leader.

“If I know where Shekau is now, I will grab his balls,” he said.

Irabor’s latest comment is totally different from what he said three months ago.

In September, the commander boasted that the military had killed the individual originally identified as Shekau, as well as his impostor.

He described as “a façade” videos of Shekau released by Boko Haram.

“I can confirm to you that the original Shekau was killed, the second Shekau was killed, and the man presenting himself as Shekau, I can also confirm to you that few days ago, he was wounded. We are yet to confirm whether he is dead or not,” he had said.

“They released videos to prove that they are still active, but that’s just a facade.”

However, Irabor also told journalists on Wednesday that three female suicide bombers were intercepted following an intelligence report that they were going towards Limankara in Gwoza council in Borno.

He added that Nigerian troops and their Cameroonian counterparts had been making remarkable progress and recoveries in Ngwoshe axis and Gwoza hills.

“Just this morning, we intercepted the bombers but the three of them resisted and tried to ram into our troops. And of course, we had no choice but to open fire on them,” he said.

“Our troops and those of the Camaroon Republic have been recording tremendous successes in flushing out remnants of the Boko Haram terrorists in that axis.

“And of course during the operation, we discovered stockpile of arms and ammunition. We also intercepted 30 cows at Cashew plantation here in Maiduguri capital.

“We also arrested one of the most wanted Boko Haram terrorists, Number 164 on our list.”

Unconfirmed Report Indicates Shekau’s ‘Capture’

Posted on December 19, 2016 by Staff Reporter

There were indications yesterday that leader of the Boko Haram insurgents, Abubakar Shekau, may have been captured in Borno State.
Unconfirmed reports said Shekau was nabbed by the ‘king of hunters’ around Gafa Mountain in Borno State.
Efforts to get official confirmation from the military failed, but a key said on phone that speculation about Shakau’s capture had been on for over a week. He however, revealed that troops of the Nigerian Army fighting in the area had surround the Gafa Mountain area last week over intelligence report that top Boko Haram leaders were hiding there.
The source said that with the cordon thrown around the area, there was no way Shekau and others would leave the place alive or without being captured.
Severally, the Nigerian military had pronounced Shekau either arrested or killed and severally the Boko Haram leader had bounced back alive, with YouTube video releases.
The Nigerian military had in September 2014 said that it had subdued Boko Haram leader, but shortly after that statement he appeared in a new video denouncing moves by the Nigerian Army to eliminate him.
On May 12, 2014, the DSS, through its former spokesperson, Marilyn Ogar, insisted that the man in the videos released by the sect was not the real Shekau.
She had stated: “Boko Haram has become a franchise; anybody can assume and lay claim to any name. What I know is that the original Abubakar Shekau is dead; the person claiming to be the national leader now is not the original Abubakar Shekau.”
Earlier this year, the Nigerian Army had announced the death of three key commanders of the extremist Boko Haram sect. The army said the terrorists were killed in a major air strike on their location in the dreaded Sambisa Forest.
The spokesperson for the Army, Sani Usman, said Shekau was also inflicted with “fatal injury” during the operation.
According to him, the bombardment was carried out on Friday while Shekau, who the Nigerian military had pronounced dead several times in the past years, was leading his group in performing the Friday prayers at a secret location called Tayye, in the heart of the vast forest.

Credit:

http://sunnewsonline.com/unconfirmed-report-indicates-shekaus-capture/

Boko Haram Leader Shekau Mentally Ill – Army

Posted on September 26, 2016 by Staff Reporter

The Nigerian Army has described the embattled leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, as mentally ill following the release of the latest video in which the terror group leader denied claims made by the army that he was seriously injured.

“The video has shown beyond all reasonable doubt the earlier suspicion that the purported factional terrorist group leader is mentally sick and unstable,” the spokesman for the Nigerian Army, Sani Usman, said in a statement on Sunday.

“The ranting is also another sign that the end is near for him which is part of the signs of all wicked people.”

Usman insisted that Shekau was indeed wounded in an air strike in August and the troops in the northeast were doing enough to check the activities of the terror group.

Nigerian authorities have reported him dead several times before, but the army’s latest claim was bolstered when Boko Haram — which pledged allegiance last year to the Islamic State (IS) group — released a video on September 13 without Shekau in it.

However, in the video released Sunday, Shekau points to a date on an Islamic calendar corresponding to September 25, 2016.

Speaking in Hausa, Arabic and English and in dialects spoken in northeast Nigeria, he appears to be in good physical health.

He uses the video to issue threats against President Muhammadu Buhari, who appealed to the United Nations this week for help in negotiating the release of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by the militants more than two years ago.

“If you want your girls, bring back our brethren,” Shekau said.

But Usman said Nigerian Army was intent on clearing “the remnants of the terrorists and rescue all persons held hostage by them especially the abducted Chibok Secondary School girls.”

Boko Haram: You have not seen the worst – Shekau

Posted on September 26, 2016 by Staff Reporter

The leader of Boko Haram has mocked claims he was seriously injured by the Nigerian military and warned “you have not seen the worst yet”.

In a video posted on social media, Abubakar Shekau dismissed claims by the Nigerian air force that he had been seriously wounded in a raid, telling them: “I will not get killed until my time comes”.

The leader of the Islamist militant group also taunted parents of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls, telling them their children would only be released if the government swaps them for detained Islamic extremist leaders.

Some 218 of the 276 schoolgirls abducted in April 2014 remain missing.

Shekau said: “You broadcast the news and published it in your media outlets that you injured me and killed me and here I am.

“Oh tyrants, I’m in a happy state, in good health and in safety.”

He added: “If you want your girls, bring back our brethren.”

In a statement, army spokesman Sani Usman said the footage was “unstable” and came as “another sign that the end is near for him”.

He said: “Boko Haram terrorism as it was known, is gone for good.

“We are just counting down to the day when all the few remnants will be totally wiped out or brought to justice.”

The air force’s announcement that Shekau had been seriously injured came days after Islamic State announced Abu Musab al Barnawi as the new Boko Haram leader.

In a 10-minute audio clip posted on social media, Shekau rejected the claim and dismissed Barnawi as an infidel who condoned living in an un-Islamic society without waging jihad.

Shekau became Boko Haram leader after founder Mohammed Yusuf was killed by security forces in 2009.

Boko Haram has killed approximately 15,000 people and displaced more than two million in a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating a state adhering to strict Islamic laws.

In the last week 10 soldiers were killed and 24 injured in a resurgence of violence in northeast Nigeria.

On Sunday, Boko Haram fighters ambushed a patrol in Abadam, Borno State, killing four soldiers and injuring 16 others.

Insane Shekau must release Chibok girls unconditionally – Army

Posted on September 26, 2016 by Staff Reporter

The Nigerian Army has described the controversial factional leader of Boko Haram terrorists, as mentally ill and unstable person whose end is near, despite issuing threats in the latest video.

The Director of Army Public Relations (DAPR), Col. Sani Usman, in a statement yesterday, said the video clip is a mere propaganda and sign of desperation for a man who was reported to have been “Fatally wounded” in military air strike.

“The attention of the Nigerian Army has been drawn to a video clip released by the so-called Abubakar Shekau faction of the remnants of the Boko Haram terrorists group this morning.

“In it, the purported leader of the group in his usual insane manner made all sorts of assertions to the point of threatening various towns, groups and individuals.

“He also tried albeit failingly to deny the air raid by the Nigerian Air Force in which he was wounded,” Usman stated.

He said: “The video has shown beyond all reasonable doubt the earlier suspicion that the purported factional terrorists group leader is mentally sick and unstable.”

According to him, “The ranting is also another sign that the end is near for him which is part of the signs of all wicked people.”

Usman urged members of the public not to be bothered by the contents of the video clip, saying “the facts on the ground speak for themselves.”

The army spokesman said the video had further shown that Shekau has derailed and no longer believes and practices the Islam he professes to follow; as he was absent at the last Eid prayers video.

“It is equally reported that he could not even lead prayers. The public should not be fooled by this individual,” he advised.

Usman said no nation or society would believe him or any Boko Haram terrorist based on antecedents and as he has shown over times to be irrational and therefore unreliable especially when it comes to negotiations on the release of the abducted girls.

To this end, he said Shekau must release the Chibok girls unconditionally.

“We want to assure Nigerians especially the residents of Maiduguri, Kano, Kaduna and Zaria not to panic as we have more than what it takes to defend them and deal decisively with the remnants of the terrorists group,” he declared.

Usman further stated that Boko Haram terrorism as it was known, is gone for good.

According to him, the military is just counting down to the day when all the few remnants would be totally wiped out or brought to justice.

However, he said a window still existed for the repentant ones among them to lay down their arms and surrender to justice.

Also, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has said it is not interested in whether Shekau is alive or dead but to continue with elimination of all forms of terrorism in the country.

The Director of Defence Information (DDI), Brig-Gen. Rabe Abubakar, stated this in response to inquiries about the latest Shekau video clip.

Abubakar said the military has made tremendous gains in the counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations in the North-east, and would not be distracted by the antics of the terrorists.

He said: “The DHQ’s position has always been clear that whether Shekau is alive or not doesn’t in anyway matter to us. What is important and pre-occupies mind is to consolidate on the unprecedented gains and successes recorded to terminate the remnants of the sect in order to free completely the North-east.

“Indeed, we are set to free our dear nation from their unholy activities and mindless propaganda and show of shame. They are very much aware that their end is near as our coordinated operations are continuing.”

The Defence spokesman said the Boko Haram terrorists have been defeated except the few remnants who are in disarray and using social media to stay afloat.

According to him, Boko Haram members are surrendering in droves to the military and warned those that have failed to do so to either surrender or be exterminated.

“We have been heating them hard and so the only soft ground for them is the non traditional media where all cock and bull stories can be fashioned to serve their evil and inglorious acts.

“They know what we have done to them and what we are up to. They are losing by the day and their members are surrendering on daily basis,” Abubakar said.

He urged: “The remnant terrorist groups and their followers to turn up yourself for your own good before it is late.”

In a related development, the Nigerian troops have repelled the renewed Boko Haram attacks in Logomani, Borno State, killing 22 terrorists and lost four soldiers in the gun battle.

Usman, in a statement said some suspected remnants of Boko Haram fighters at 10a.m. yesterday, attacked the troops location of at Logomani along Dikwa-Gambarou road.

Usman said the terrorists came in a three waves attack using 36 hand grenades and rocket propelled launchers.

“Our troops fought gallantly and repelled the attack which lasted for about one hour. At the end of the fierce encounter, the troops counted 22 dead bodies of Boko Haram fighter. They also recovered two AK-47 rifles, FN rifle, G3 rifle and some 36 Hand grenades,” he stated.

Unfortunately, he said, the troops lost four soldiers and their rifles as a result of the effect of Boko Haram use of Rocket Propelled Grenades, while two others were wounded in action.

The DAPR said the wounded in action have been evacuated for further medical management.

He also disclosed that the location has been reinforced and replenished, while the troops have continued their clearance operations.

Shekau’s New Video A Propaganda- Nigerian Army

Posted on September 26, 2016 by Staff Reporter

The military yesterday said the factional leader of the terrorist group Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau is “unstable and irrational saying he must release the abducted Chibok girls unconditionally.

The Army was responding to the latest video released by Shekau, describing it as propaganda and sign of desperation.

Boko Haram on Sunday released another video in which Shekau appeared for 38 minutes, speaking in Arabic, Fulfulde, Hausa and a line in English. Shekau appeared before a black background with two armed members of the group by his side and about 15 big copies of the Holy Quran in front of him.

He spoke mostly in Arabic and denied being killed or wounded in any Nigerian Air Force raid. He also sent messages to President Muhammadu Buhari, Chief of Army Staff Lt.-General Tukur Buratai, and President Idris Deby of Chad.

“The unbelievers of Nigeria I am going to be addressing you and Buhari and Idris Deby. The whole world should listen. I am alive. when my days are over you people will not see me again.

“You should make all the preparations you want to make, you and your Ban kii Moon. I am trying to make the whole world to know that we are not gentle people or sociologists; it is because of God that we evade you when you throw out your bombs,” Shekau said.

He said democracy is evil and for unbelievers on “his brothers and sisters” to return to the right way. “ Do you think democracy is religion, you Hausa of Nigeria? If not for God where will we be? My brothers and sister, return to the Quran. You Buhari, go and beg people for money claiming you will collect the young girls back when it is all a lie,” he said.

Army dismisses latest Boko Haram video

Shekau Appears In New Video, Says He Is In Good Health

Posted on September 26, 2016 by Staff Reporter

A factional leader of the Boko Haram militant group, Abubakar Shekau, has appeared in a new video released on YouTube.
Shekau, who sat throughout the 40-minute video, denied claims by the Nigerian military that he was killed or badly injured in recent air strikes.

Speaking in Arabic, Hausa and Kanuri, he said he was still in charge of the militant group.
“Oh tyrants, I’m in a happy state, in good health and in safety,” he said.
Earlier this month, the Islamic State in the Levant and Syria (ISLS) announced Shekau’s replacement with Abu Musab Albarnawi, the son of the late Boko Haram founder, Muhammed Yusuf. Shekau rejected the move. It is not certain when the latest video was recorded.
Defence spokesman, Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar, in his reaction said it was immaterial whether Shekau was alive or not.
He said the military was not bothered if he was alive, adding that the most important thing was to finish the decimation of Boko Haram.
“We will continue to hit them hard, so the only soft ground for them is the non-traditional media, where all stories can be fashioned to serve their evil and inglorious acts.”
“They know what we have done and what we are up to, they are losing by the days, their members are surrendering on daily basis, we are urging you and your followers to turn yourselves in for your own good before it’s too late,” he said.

[Video] Boko Haram Members Praying In Large Numbers

Posted on September 14, 2016 by Staff Reporter

Members of Boko Haram under the leadership of Abubakar Shekau has released a video showing thousands of its members praying during recently concluded Eid ceremony; the militant group showed members in three separate praying grounds in Borno and the Lake Chad area.

However, the leader of the faction, Shekau was conspicuously missing in the video. The group used the opportunity to threaten President Muhammadu Buhari, insisting its members are still many and remain resilient despite the military action that killed scores of its foot soldiers and reclaimed Nigerian territory under its control.

Watch Video Below:

https://t.reembed.com/1XkI5b1fF1u41GsZa-2gThuD

Both Original & Fake Shekau Are Dead- Army

Posted on September 2, 2016 by Staff Reporter

The Nigerian Army has described as “a façade” videos of Abubakar Shekau released by Boko Haram.
Theatre commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Lucky Irabor, reiterated in Adamawa state yesterday that Shekau was dead.
He said the military killed the individual originally identified as Shekau, as well as his impostor.
“I can confirm to you that the original Shekau was killed, the second Shekau was killed, and the man presenting himself as Shekau, I can also confirm to you that few days ago, he was wounded. We are yet to confirm whether he is dead or not,” he said.
“They released videos to prove that they are still active, but, that’s just a facade.” Irabor said Boko Haram is currently divided as a result of military operations.
This is not the first time the army would pronounce Shekau dead, but the militant leader has been known for releasing videos to debunk the claims.
Last week, Col. Sani Usman, army spokesman, issued a statement and said Shekau was “fatally” injured in an air raid.
“In what one could describe as the most unprecedented and spectacular air raid, we confirmed that, as a result of the interdiction efforts of the Nigerian Air Force, some key leaders of the Boko Haram terrorists have been killed while others were fatally wounded.
“Those confirmed dead were Abubakar Mubi, Malam Nuhu and Malam Hamman, amongst others, while their leader, the so-called ‘Abubakar Shekau’, is believed to be fatally wounded on his shoulders. Several other terrorists were also wounded,” Usman said.
Former Education minister, Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili, leader of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement, taunted the military for “triumphantly” announcing the death of Shekau on four occasions, while unable to rescue the abducted Chibok girls.
On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram abducted over 260 grils from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State and subsequently, married off some of them to their members.
Early this year, Amina Ali-Nkeki, one of the abducted girls, was rescued with a baby, alongside her Boko Haram husband.
Recently, Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar said the Airforce did not know the location of the girls. There is no credible intelligence that will specifically tell you their that these girls are here,” he said

Credit:

http://sunnewsonline.com/original-fake-shekau-dead-army/

Watch Video Of NAF Airstrike That Wounded Shekau

Posted on August 23, 2016 by Staff Reporter

The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadiq Abubakar said at least 300 insurgents, had been killed in air strikes in recent operations in Borno state; also wounding the dreaded Shekau.

The CAS said “We have intensified our airstrikes in recent weeks especially on the 19th of August; we strike the terrorist en mass. I am happy about our last night operations, at least 300 of terrorist were killed in that operations, they can never wake to fight us again.”

Watch airstrike video below:

Credit: DailyTrust/ YouTube

Boko Haram: Shekau Wounded In Military Airstrike

Posted on August 23, 2016 by Staff Reporter

The Nigerian Army on Tuesday announced the death of three key commanders of the extremist Boko Haram sect.

The army said the terrorists were killed on Friday in a major air strike on their location in the dreaded Sambisa Forest.

The spokesperson for the Army, Sani Usman, said the leader of the terrorist group, Abubakar Shekau, was also inflicted with with “fatal injury” during the operation.

Mr. Sani, a colonel, said the bombardment was carried out on Friday while Mr. Shekau, who the Nigerian military had pronounced dead several times in the past years, was leading his group in performing the Friday prayers at a secret location called Tayye in the heart of the vast forest.

The military has repeatedly claimed credit for killing Mr. Shekau. But the sect denounced the claims each time saying its leader remained alive. At times, Mr. Shekau would appear in a video to prove he had not been killed.

The military however insisted that the original Abubakar Shekau had long been killed, and that the so-called Abubakar Shekau said to be alive was a made-up character.

Giving further details of Friday bombardment, Mr. Sani gave the names of those killed in the raid as Abubakar Mubi, Malam Nuhu and Malam Hamman.

Our correspondent in Maiduguri said the air raid was not immediately reported because journalists have no access to the location.

Military insiders also said the air force had no idea how successful the bombardments were until late Monday when the Army became aware of those killed and injured in battle.

Colonel Usman’s statement reads in full:

“In what one could describe as the most unprecedented and spectacular air raid, we have just confirmed that as a result of the interdiction efforts of the Nigerian Air Force, some key leaders of the

Boko Haram terrorists have been killed while others were fatally wounded.

“The air interdiction took place last week Friday 19th August 2016, while the terrorists were performing Friday rituals at Taye village,

“Those Boko Haram terrorists commanders confirmed dead include Abubakar Mubi, Malam Nuhu and Malam Hamman, amongst others. While their leader, so called “Abubakar Shekau”, is believed to be fatally wounded on his shoulders. Several other terrorists were also wounded”.

“I Will Continue To Fight Nigeria”, Shekau Vows.

Posted on August 8, 2016 by Staff Reporter

Boko Haram’s shadowy leader Abubakar Shekau has appeared in a new video vowing to fight on, shrugging off an apparent split in the hardline jihadist group blamed for thousands of deaths since 2009.

“I… Abubakar Ash-Shakawy (Shekau), the leader of Jama’atu Ahlissunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, made it a duty for myself (to fight) Nigeria and the whole world,” Shekau said in the video released on Sunday, using the group’s name since it declared allegiance to the so-called Islamic State.

Last week, Shekau said in an audio message he was still head of the group despite his purported replacement by Sheikh Abu Musab al-Barnawi, a former Boko Haram spokesman.

“We have no desire to fight our Muslim brethren,” Shekau, who last appeared in March, said in the 24-minute video.

Shekau ridiculed suggestions that he was dead, and looked more composed and energetic than in previous appearances.
“I’m alive by the permission of Allah,” he said in his speech in Arabic and Hausa, adding that he would only die when his time came.

In the video he is wearing camouflage gear and holding a machine gun, standing between two Islamist fighters in balaclavas armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

He taunted President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and condemned Western countries including the United States, France, Germany and “the tyrants of the United Nonsense (UN)”.

At the end of his speech — apparently filmed in Boko Haram’s stronghold in the Sambisa forest of northeastern Nigeria — he fired off rounds of ammunition into the air.

His absence in recent months had sparked speculation about his fate and whether he had been deposed as Boko Haram’s chief.

Barnawi’s appointment was contained in a magazine issued by the Islamic State group, to which Boko Haram pledged allegiance in March last year.

Shekau dismissed Barnawi as an infidel who condoned living in an un-Islamic society without waging jihad.

Shekau became leader after Nigerian security forces killed the group’s founding chief Mohammed Yusuf in 2009.

Omar Mahmood, a security analyst with US-based Foreign Policy Research Institute who has spent the past five years researching Boko Haram, said Shekau was removed because of his highhandness and ruthlessness.

“One thing that has remained constant, however, is the focus on attacks against regional security forces, with Muslim civilian deaths still ignored. This aspect seems to be a key concern for IS propagandists,” Mr Mahmood said.

“By contrast, Abu Musab al-Barnawi, the man announced as the new leader, clearly stated in his al-Naba interview that attacks against Muslim civilians, mosques and markets will not be a staple of his leadership.”

Sources close to Boko Haram said Barnawi, aged in his early twenties, is none other than Habib Yusuf, the eldest son of group founder Yusuf.

They said he was put under Shekau’s care following the death of his father, but the pair fell out over ideological and operational differences.

Boko Haram has been blamed for some 20,000 deaths and displacing more than 2.6 million people since it launched a brutal insurgency in Nigeria in 2009.

Nigerian forces, with the support of regional troops, have recaptured swathes of territory lost to the jihadists since they launched a military campaign in February 2014.

Shekau Appears In New Video, Threatens The Whole World

Posted on August 8, 2016 by Staff Reporter

Boko Haram’s shadowy leader Abubakar Shekau has appeared in a new video vowing to fight on, shrugging off an apparent split in the hardline jihadist group blamed for thousands of deaths since 2009.

Last week, Shekau said in an audio message he was still head of the group despite his purported replacement by Sheikh Abu Musab al-Barnawi, a former Boko Haram spokesman.

“We have no desire to fight our Muslim brethren,” Shekau, who last appeared in March, said in the 24-minute video.

Shekau ridiculed suggestions that he was dead, and looked more composed and energetic than in previous appearances.

“I’m alive by the permission of Allah,” he said in his speech in Arabic and Hausa, adding that he would only die when his time came.

In the video he is wearing camouflage gear and holding a machine gun, standing between two Islamist fighters in balaclavas armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

He taunted President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and condemned Western countries including the United States, France, Germany and “the tyrants of the United Nonsense (UN)”.

At the end of his speech — apparently filmed in Boko Haram’s stronghold in the Sambisa forest of northeastern Nigeria — he fired off rounds of ammunition into the air.

http://guardian.ng/news/boko-harams-shekau-vows-to-fight-on-in-new-video/

Must Read: New Boko Haram Leader, Al-Barnawi Reveals What Living With Shekau Was Like.

Posted on August 7, 2016 by Staff Reporter

New Boko Haram leader, Musab Al-Barnawi, Friday released a long audio tape in which he accused Shekau of massive corruption and unjustifiable killings of Muslims.

Al-Barnawi, who claimed to be a founding member of the bloody group, alleged that Shekau favoured only himself and his family.

He lamented that Shekau had been busy killing Muslims instead of seeking ways to attack churches and security formations.

He accused Shekau of abandoning the path set by the group’s founder, Mohammed Yusuf.

The new leader recalled that before he was captured and murdered in 2009, Yusuf usually subjected his Friday sermons to vetting by his top aides.

He challenged Shekau to confront his faction and risk his life.

He, however, said if Shekau repents, he will be accepted back in the fold.

Al-Barnawi’S audio tape reads in part, “[Shekau] was boasting that if we attempt to escape from his empire, his men will kill us. He is a liar.

“I am not the only one that left, but eight of us left, all kitchen cabinet members. And right now two other top members are on the way to join us.

“We are all here. The issue of Islam is not personal, there is no sentiment in Islam, and that is why we are here.

“Nobody can dare us or stop us from it, no matter how he brags. Here we are on our own. Can’t you see how we left your empire?

“We left women and everything and just left with guns on our shoulders. We would have crushed anyone that stood on our way.

“We said we would not touch anyone but just go on our way to our religion. We will fight for the cause of Allah and work against personalising Jihad and against unjustifiable killings and shedding of blood.

“We are out because you came out with your own cassette. We want our people to know proper Islam because Allah in the Quran forbids killings without justification.

“Just like Allah gave us power to kill infidels, there are those he said we shouldn’t kill without reason.

“In the Quran, Allah forbade Muslims from killing one another…and he also taught against killing in secret. If it is serious punishment, it must be public for people to know and witness it.

“But once you see killings in secret, there is something fishy and this is what we noticed with Shekau. What he is doing is not Islam.

“He said we should follow him and we agreed, but we later realized it is another thing and we said no. We have to stick to the Quran and what Allah said, not [follow] someone’s waywardness.

“We have vowed to say the truth. If we will be killed, let us be killed. If we will be eaten, let us be eaten up and if we will be roasted, let us be roasted.

“We will not leave our fellow brothers in the dark; this message of mine will get to Sambisa Forest. It will get into Shekau’s house. We have agents that will convey the message no matter how he dislikes it.

“Almighty Allah is against killings of Muslims. Allah is saying better heaven and earth fall than innocent soul of a Muslim, but you have Shekau who likes killing our own people.

“He is always boasting that he will kill, he will kill. Okay, continue to kill, you will also be killed. Who will dwell here forever? Everybody will die. You will also die some day.

“And there is no one that will die without reaching his day of death. You can see we are here alive, all of us here sitting. Anyone that Allah did not kill you cannot kill him. The same way, you cannot stop anyone Allah willed his death.

“That is why when someone boasts to kill a man, the man asks him, ‘Why are you in a haste?’ The man says, ‘If my time has come, you will not stop me from going.’ There are several verses that forbid killing of a fellow Muslim unjustifiably.

“Our vow that we will practice Islam is real. That is why we left our parents, homes, our cars and everything and came to this forest. How can we then agree to see you bringing strange ideologies?

“In one of our Shura meetings, someone asked Shekau how he felt about Muslims running away from their own land to the land of the infidels for their own safety.

“Shekau said [the Muslims] are also infidels and should be killed like the infidels. These people are not infidels, they are Muslims running for their lives, and he insisted that they are infidels and should be killed.

“Shekau is ignorant of the fact that it is forbidden for a Muslim to be killed after being chased out of Islamic Caliphate to a strange land and [when the Muslim] has not taken part in any conspiracy against Muslims.

“[Shekau] is ignorant and needs to be taught the rudiments of Islam. Islam is not his creation. Only Allah defines who is a Muslim and who is an infidel.

“Even if you travel to a foreign land, you have no jurisdiction to say who is who until you have a basis. Anywhere you go you can’t say who is who. You can’t kill and take away people’s properties.

“We fled from him with our religion for good. It is there in the books, when you are not allowed to do Islam you have the liberty to flee and follow what you know is right.

“Shekau, we did not touch you, don’t touch us. If you touch us we will touch you and we are many against you. We have people in your house and even your present hideout.

“You don’t know us enough; we are ready for anyone to kill us, even if it is infidels, for so long as we will make heaven and be before Allah. That is why we are countering the false ideology you are spreading.

“[Shekau] said he is looking for our information. We also have your information and we are close to you. What kind of thing is this? There were states we captured as part of the Islamic Caliphate and you allowed men to be looting property.

“We told you and you did not take action. We don’t know this brand of Jihad; you kill children, women and bomb people. We should be looking for infidels and not our own people. How can we be killing people in the mosques when there are churches, barracks?

“It is nonsense and Allah will ask you [about it] if you don’t repent. Another thing is, [Shekau] is interpreting verses with his own opinions and the cassettes are being spread. Stop interpreting the Quran with your own opinion. We who lived with [Shekau] knew his conduct.

What is not in the Hadith, he will insist that it is there. Kai, Imam, all these interpretations are your own creation. Please go and seek education and knowledge from those that know.

“Nobody should believe him. People should see understanding and not depend on his lies.

“Haba Imam, have you forgotten our past? Is this how we started? You forgot your days in our learning place with your two items of clothing, learning under the tree? And today you are arrogant and killing your own people because you have now got an empire?

“You forgot how you rushed to pass a verdict over the case of a man over sheep? And you rushed a judgment that saw the man’s hand amputated. The same thing happened in Bama.

“Five of us were sitting, and the issue came up of some fighters who married slaves. He quickly said they should be killed. The killings spread to eleven persons. Later on, the allegation turned out to be false.

“Some fighters murmured and said there would be no peace with his injustices. And all these are not part of Islam.

“People complained of several acts, but because [Shekau] was enjoying power he refused to take action. Who killed the Malam in Banki? Is it not you that killed him? The same thing happened to a man you brought inside and killed.

“You forgot one day I told you that your wives are not aware that their husbands are alive. You dismissed me with a wave of hand. And you said their husbands should be killed.

“Is it not you that killed them? Are you not the one that killed Malam Abdulmalik? He is popularly known as Baba Abdulmalik, and you killed him.

“And you are killing them secretly when, in Islam, there is nothing like secret killings even of an infidel. Even if it is Buhari that comes to you following an agreement, if you killed him, it is not Islam.

“Even if it is an infidel, if you killed him it is not Islam. If you are afraid of their treaty, tell them we are enemies, instead of drawing people close tokill them.

“Where did you see the judgment of Allah secretly done? And you said you are following Allah. Is it the Prophet that said this? This is not Islam, Shekau.

“You killed Ameer Falluja because he was close to Abdulmalik. When he entered, he never came out. The same way, you killedBagomna because he bought a house in Amchide.

“If someone bought a house, is that a reason to kill him? With your hand you killed him. Bagomna came on a bike, and you just killed him. When we asked you why you said since he went to war he did not return.

Shekau’s Audio Fuels Talk Of Split In Boko Haram

Posted on August 5, 2016 by Staff Reporter

Boko Haram’s elusive leader, Abubakar Shekau finally broke his silence yesterday to insist he was “still around” following reports that Islamic State had replaced him, but his message fuelled talk of a split within the jihadist group.

For months, speculation has been rife over the fate of Shekau, who has led the Nigeria-based Islamist group since 2009 but has not been heard from since March.

But yesterday, following a report suggesting he had been replaced, Shekau, according to AFP, released an audio message insisting he was still very much alive and in charge of the group, which last year had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State jihadists.

“People should know we are still around. We will never cause any discord among the people, we will live by the Koran,” Shekau said in a 10-minute audio message. “This is our stand and we remain in our capacity as Jama’atu Ahlissunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad,” he said using the Islamic name for Boko Haram.

His voice was recognised by an AFP journalist familiar with previous messages he has posted on the social media.

It was also confirmed as Shekau’s voice by Berlin-based jihadist expert Yan St-Pierre of the Modern Security Consulting Group (Mosecon), who said his message had laid bare divisions within the group.

“The person who posted on the internet is a very reliable source,” he told AFP. “We knew that Boko Haram was divided on a strategic point of view, now their divisions are public,” he said.

Shekau’s audio message was released after IS on Tuesday published an interview with Sheikh Abu Musab al-Barnawi in its Al-Naba online weekly magazine in which he was introduced as Boko Haram’s new leader.
In the interview, Barnawi talks about the history of jihad in this region but makes no clear reference to Shekau.

St-Pierre said the message suggested Shekau was trying to retain his base of support within Boko Haram without compromising the commitment to IS.
“In the message, Shekau refers to Boko Haram under its previous name, but with some ISIS propaganda elements, as if he wanted to reassure its old combatants and base, without denying his commitment to (its leader Abu Bakr) al-Bagdadi,” he said.

Credit: Thisday

Shekau Releases New Audio Message

Posted on August 4, 2016 by Staff Reporter

Boko Haram’s elusive leader Abubakar Shekau said in an audio message Thursday he is still around despite his reported ouster as head of the Nigeria-based jihadist group by the Islamic State (IS).

“People should know we are still around. We will never cause any discord among the people, we will live by the Koran,” Shekau said in a 10-minute audio message.

“This is our stand and we remain in our capacity as Jama’atu Ahlissunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad,” he said using the Islamic name for the hardline jihadist group.

His voice was recognised by an AFP journalist familiar with previous messages he has posted on social media.

It was also confirmed as Shekau’s voice by Berlin-based expert Yan St-Pierre of the Modern Security Consulting Group (Mosecon).

“The person who posted on the internet is a very reliable source,” he said.

Shekau’s audio message was released in response to reports that he had been purportedly replaced by Sheikh Abu Musab al-Barnawi, a former IS spokesman.

In the latest edition of IS’s online weekly magazine Al-Naba, which was published on Tuesday, there was an interview with Barnawi in which he was introduced as Boko Haram’s new leader

In March 2015, Boko Haram pledged allegiance to IS.

But Shekau dismissed Barnawi as an infidel who condoned living in an un-Islamic society without waging jihad.

The shadowy leader’s absence in recent months has sparked speculation about his fate and whether or not he had been deposed as leader.

Credit: Guardian

How Shekau’s Bodyguard Killed Boko Haram’s Chief Bomb Maker

Posted on May 24, 2016 by Staff Reporter

The Nigerian Army monday confirmed the death of Boko Haram’s chief bomb maker and a high-ranking terrorist.

This is just as a video was released showing the gruesome scene of how female terrorists are tasked with slaughtering women captives in parts of Sambisa forest in the North-east.

Army spokesman, Col. Sani Usman, disclosed this in a statement, confirming that the killing of the sect’s bomb maker happened in the early hours of Monday.

Usman said that the suspected chief bomb maker, apart from his high status in the command structure of Boko Haram, was one of their capable hands involved in making improvised explosive devices (IEDs), coming after their chief scientist, called Abu RPG who was killed long ago.

“The chief bomb maker was killed by one of the bodyguards of the Boko Haram terrorist leader, Abubakar Shekau, as he was about to abscond just like several others are doing because of the intensity of Operation Crackdown,” Usman said.
He also disclosed that “one Julelebeeb who was appointed to take over is now completely blind because his two eyes were reportedly shattered by shrapnel in the process of preparing an IED to consolidate his appointment”.

There is no doubt, Usman noted that “this development has dealt a devastating blow on the terrorists’ capacity on IED preparation, suicide bombing and their ability to sustain their criminal acts.”

He said the troops were continuing with the clearance and rescue operations successfully in order to completely clear Boko Haram terrorists wherever they might be hiding.

It was also disclosed how the army’s operation in Sambisa forest has uncovered the murderous activities of Boko Haram women fighters with a video showing them slaughtering one of their female captives.
The horrifying video showed a woman who passionately pleaded for her life being beheaded by one of the hardened female terrorists.

Credit: Thisday

Controversy Trails Shekau’s ‘New’ Video, Chibok Girl Female Suicide Bomber

Posted on March 29, 2016 by Staff Reporter

There were indications last night that the latest video purportedly released last week by the leader of the Boko Haram sect, Abubakar Shekau, might not have emanated from the Boko Haram leader after all.

A source, who pleaded anonymity, said that the video, in which Shekau was said to have said that the end of the sect’s campaign was near, was shot about two years ago. The source said the video was actually given out by Shekau to a delegation sent by a top Islamic sect leader, Darun Sijjirah, when he pledged allegiance to the Boko Haram leader.

According to the source, it was not possible for Shekau, leaders of the Islamic State for Africa to have released such a document at this moment. “The video is a fake one intended for ulterior purposes and does not emanate from Shekau,” the source said.

Responding to a question, the source also disputed the claim by a female suicide bomber arrested by the Cameroonian authorities that she was one of the Chibok girls taken by the Boko Haram sect since April 14, 2014.

“The truth is that the female suicide bomber arrested in Cameroun is not one of the Chibok girls,” the man said. It was learned that the release of the video, which the Nigerian military had since dismissed as a possible diversionary tactics by the sect, was causing disquiet in the camps of the sect leaders.

This, coupled with the claim by the female suicide bomber arrested in Cameroun, is believed to have compelled the leadership of the sect to contemplate releasing a statement disputing the two issues and to ‘put the records straight’.

It was learned that the group close to Shekau might issue a disclaimer on the two issues within the week, given the erroneous impression and the controversy they had generated within its camps. Boko Haram has killed over 13,000 persons and abducted many men, women and children in its six-year-old campaign against the Nigerian state, which is seeking to end the activities of the group. Nigeria has also dispatched a group to Cameroun to ascertain if, indeed, the female suicide bomber in its custody belongs to the missing Chibok girls.

Credit: vanguardngr

“You Are A Noise Maker!” – Nigeria Army Chief, Buratai, Tells Boko Haram Leader

Posted on September 22, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Nigeria’s chief of army staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai has dismissed as mere noise making the claims in a new audio by Abubakar Shekau, the elusive Boko Haram leader.

Buratai described the audio as `another desperate move by the group to find relevance.’

He said the group no longer has the capacity to hold any ground or plan co-ordinated attack on strategic locations or key public facilities.

“I think the new Boko Haram leader, in the latest audio is just trying to sound relevant; but as far as I
am concerned, he is irrelevant in the scheme of things, he is irrelevant to me.

“ Have you seen any of them coming out apart from the suicide bombings? You can see the number of terrorists that are escaping from their camps; he is just making noise to remain relevant,’’ he said.
The Army Chief who also reacted to Sunday’s bomb blast in Maiduguri, urged residents of the area to remain calm as measures were being taken to forestall re-occurrence.

He said the bomb attack had provided clues of the remaining areas the insurgents were operating from in the state.

“Sunday’s bomb blast will be among those that will be the last, you can be counting them, it has opened up another window where we can now focus where these attacks are coming from.

“It will not be possible for them to penetrate other areas; for now we have knocked them off areas along from Yobe and some parts of Borno.
“Immediately this incident happened yesterday, I gave directive and we will comb that area thoroughly to identify where they are operating from,’’ he said.

Source: Vanguard

Shekau Debunks Boko Haram Negotiation With FG In New Audio

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Abubakar Shekau, has again released another audio message debunking the reported negotiation with his group. Shekau released an audio message in August, to refute reports of his death as a result of five months silence.

In the latest message released on social media, Shekau, who spoke in Arabic and Hausa, said the military lacked the capacity to confront his men.

“Buhari is a liar and has deceived you. The Army spokesperson is also lying. He and his foot soldiers always run helter-skelter whenever we come face to face with them.

“Buhari, you once claimed that you will crush us in three months. How can you crush us?

“The military lied that they have confiscated our arms, that we have been chased out of our territories.

“We are alive, I am alive, this is my voice, more audible than it was before. This is Shekau.”

The military has claimed victory over the sect in recent times,” he said.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Sani Usman, spokesperson of the Army, said the insurgents were “falling to federal might” and the fight against insurgency was “gaining momentum”.

Usman also said 139 Boko Haram captives had been freed, while eight insurgents surrendered to the Army.

Shekau, however did not only dismiss the claims, he also discredited the alleged peace deal the Federal Government said it was entering with the group.

Read More: tribuneonlineng

Boko Haram No Longer Has The Capability To Occupy North-East – President Buhari

Posted on September 14, 2015 by Staff Reporter

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday said that the fight against corruption is aimed at saving the soul of the nation. Buhari who was represented by Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, made this statement at the second plenary meeting of Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), near Port Harcourt. He said:

“ Our fight against corruption is not just a battle of virtue and righteousness in our land, but it is a fight for the soul and substance of our nation.

“ Corruption in our country is endemic and it constitutes a parallel system,“ he said. According to the President, corruption has made a potentially prosperous country struggle to feed and provide jobs for its people.

“ Hundreds of thousands of infants and maternal mortality statistics, hundreds of thousands deaths from communicable diseases are traceable to the greed and corruption of a few,“ he said. Buhari urged Nigerians to think of resuscitating the nation`s economy because two-thirds of Nigerians lived in extreme poverty.

“They must be helped, first to survive, and then, fully participate in the economy of the nation. “Consequently, we must create tenets for the very poor and vulnerable, while ensuring that social spending also resurrects investments in the economy. “We must invest substantially in relevant education; teachers training and vocational and entrepreneurial training,“ Buhari said.

The President said a way out, was for all Nigerians to invest in infrastructure and all crucial components in the medium and long term means of diversifying the economy.

He continued by saying:

“Meanwhile, we must block all leakages and improve on our revenue base,“ he said. On insurgency, Buhari said Boko Haram had been weakened and lacked the strength to occupy the North-East zone or any part of the country.

He also said the military was using local intelligence to thwart efforts of Boko Haram to regroup in the North-East or any part of the country.
He said:

“On security, we are on course to militarily route Boko Haram and make them incapable of taking over any territory. “Suicide bombings on some parts of the North- East are desperate acts of terrorists to create a sense that they are still in play.

“But, with vigilance and local intelligence, we will make these cowardly acts practically impossible,“ he said. Earlier, the President of CBCN, Most Rev. Ignatius Kaigama, said that the new administration in the country would recover the country`s wasted opportunities.

Kaigama, who is the Archbishop of Jos, said the church will continue to pray for Nigeria. He said:

“The tendency to promote, defend, and protect narrow personal economic, regional and religious interests have been responsible for our unstable national journey of one step forward and many steps backward,“ he said Kaigama expressed optimism that the new administration would achieve positive change and recover wasted opportunities.

Source: Vanguard

“I Am Still In Charge”, Shekau Denies Dumping Boko Haram

Posted on August 16, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The leader of Nigeria’s Boko Haram denied he had been killed or ousted as chief of the jihadist group in an audio recording released Sunday attributed to him by security experts.

In the eight-minute Hausa-language message, Abubakar Shekau rebuffed claims by Chadian leader Idriss Deby that he had been replaced and called the president a “hypocrite” and a “tyrant”.

“It is indeed all over the global media of infidels that I am dead or that I am sick and incapacitated and have lost influence in the affairs of religion,” he said in the recording released on social media.

“It should be understood that this is false. This is indeed a lie. If it were true, my voice wouldn’t have been heard, now that I am speaking.”

Deby declared on August 12 that efforts to combat neighbouring Nigeria’s Boko Haram jihadists had succeeded in “decapitating” the group and would be wrapped up “by the end of the year”.

Deby told reporters in the capital N’Djamena Boko Haram was no longer led by the fearsome Shekau and that his successor, whom he named as Mahamat Daoud, was open to talks.

“Gratitude be to Allah and with his help, I have not disappeared. I am still alive and I am not dead. And I will not die until my time appointed by Allah is up,” Shekau said in the message.

The SITE Intelligence Group verified the authenticity of the message, and an AFP correspondent with extensive experience of reporting Boko Haram said it exactly resembled Shekau’s voice in previous recordings.

Credit: AFP

We Located Chibok Girls But Couldn’t Rescue Them– UK Envoy

Posted on July 8, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The outgoing British High Commissioner to Nigeria Dr. Andrew Pocock yesterday said the abducted Chibok school girls were located but it’s practically impossible to rescue them safely.

He also said his county was not advocate for dialogue with the Boko Haram sect, believed to have abducted the girls from their hostels last year.

Pocock who visited Kaduna state Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i made the remarks at an interactive session with journalists.

He said “Our ability to return the Chibok girls is very limited. Well, after the abduction for some
months it was clear that substantial group of girls were together. It was also clear that they were by no means all of them. It might be a group of 50 or 80; it’s very hard to tell. It presented a terrible dilemma to everybody, attempting to rescue substantial group of girls has two obvious problems; the risk to the attackers and to the girls.”

He said “It was possible that Boko Haram would have killed those girls. And I am not sure whether the military capacity existed for the rescue of these girls. So even though it was possible to say where some of the girls might have been, they were beyond rescue in practical terms. I think the only way for the return of the girls in my personal opinion is through the defeat of Boko Haram.”

He said deployment of security forces to the North-East to deal with insurgency was not enough adding that government must apply economic measures.

The High Commissioner said it was not a better option to invoke dialogue with sect because they didn’t constitute a legitimate government.
“I don’t think we will advocate talking to people that abduct innocent civilians and cut peoples throat on video and show it to the rest of the world. But what we could be talking about is disarmament and rehabilitation process for those who are willing to put down their weapons,” he added.

Hundreds Of Corpses Of Boko Haram Victims Reportedly Seen At Gwoza Mountain In Borno State

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Hundreds of bodies of some of the victims of Boko Haram attacks who fled from Gwoza community in Borno state are reportedly decomposing at the mountains that surround Gwoza community. A source who spoke with Sahara Reporters say most of the victims died due to hunger as they could not get food while they took refuge on the mountains during the period Boko Haram took their community hostage.

“Many atrocities were committed by Boko haram insurgents during Boko Haram reign at Gwoza, most of the mountain unburied bodies lying down. Hundreds of corpses are still there. If you go to the these mountains around Gwoza axis you wouldn’t be able to eat meats, sand has eaten some the bodies as many bones dry up due to heat” the source said.

Spain Charges Boko Haram Leader, Abubakar Shekau With Crimes Against Humanity

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Spain’s state prosecutor charged the leader of Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, with terrorism and crimes against humanity over a 2013 attack on a Nigerian town in which a Spanish nun was assaulted, court papers said.

Spain has pioneered the use of universal jurisdiction, the concept that crimes against humanity can be prosecuted across borders, in instances such as when a Spanish judge issued an arrest warrant for Chile’s Augusto Pinochet in London in 1998.

The Boko Haram case arises from a militant attack on the eastern Nigerian town of Ganye on March 22, 2013 in which at least 25 people were killed.

Court papers issued on Thursday said militants assaulted the nun, Maria Jesus Mayor, in Ganye
before she was able to escape into hiding and was later rescued by Nigerian security services.

The court documents gave no details of the alleged incident involving the nun. The judge has asked for a study of Boko Haram from Interpol and will obtain a declaration from Mayor about the incident, according to the court papers.

For Spain to carry out universal jurisdiction, there must be a Spanish connection such as a Spanish victim or perpetrator. In the Boko Haram case, the state prosecutor used the fact there was a Spanish victim to bring a generic charge of crimes against humanity and terrorism, a court source said.

“This criminal act was committed against a background of terrorist activities that the jihadist organisation (Boko Haram) is carrying out systematically against people and communities,” the court document said as it listed deadly attacks carried out by Boko Haram in Africa’s most populous state since 2009.

Spain’s centre-right government in recent years has sought to limit the power of judges since arrest orders were causing diplomatic friction, for example last year when a judge went after former Chinese officials accused of genocide in Tibet.

As a result, the universal jurisdiction law was changed last year so that judges could investigate such cases only if there was a Spanish connection.

Shekau Reportedly Captured In North Borno- Report

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Staff Reporter

According to newsrescue, Boko Haram’s elusive leader, Abubakar Shekau has been captured. He was reportedly caught by Nigerien troops at Abadam, north Borno and taken across the border to Bosso, Niger republic.

The president of Niger republic, Mahamadou Issoufou paid a sudden visit to “congratulate” Nigeria’s president-elect today at Defense house Abuja; this ten days after his counterpart in Chad, Idriss Deby, accused of being a sponsor of Boko Haram also went to pay respect to the incoming no-nonsense former General.

While we are unable to verify the capture of Abubakar Shekau, experts do not rule out this event in connection to the Nigerien president’s sudden visit to the incoming president.

Read More: newsrescue

Marte Community In Borno Falls To Boko Haram

Posted on May 16, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Boko Haram members have captured Marte town in Borno town. Confirming the new development to newsmen today in Borno state, the deputy governor of the state Alhaji Zannah Mustapha expressed sadness and revealed that there are reports that the sect group had released about 600 female suicide bombers into the state to carry out various attacks. He however appealed to the residents of the state to be patent with the military. What he said below…

“It is sad as we have been made to understand that Marte is today (Friday) completely fallen under the control of the insurgents, which to us is a very huge setback. It is unfortunate that we are experiencing yet another attack in Maiduguri at this time that we are thinking that the insurgency should have subsided, following the taking over of Sambisa Forest by the military. Our thinking was that every other place should have been blocked so that the insurgency would be contained in a restricted area. But that has not been the case,because the insurgents have been fleeing to other communities. Initially, we were opposed to the suggestion made by the military, but when we received a security report that about 600 women have been kitted as suicide bombers and are to be sneaked into Maiduguri during the attack, couple with the gory pictures of some of the women, who detonated themselves during the attack, we had no option than to okay the curfew. But the curfew has been relaxed from noon to about 5pm to ease the hardship and afterwards it may be reviewed. Our government is going to do everything humanly possible by supporting the military to see that Maiduguri and other secured parts of Borno State is not attacked or taken over by the insurgents. We want people to be patient with the government and the security; though 90 per cent of our communities have been liberated but the war is not over yet. We though all is over as we were even trying to fight for the reopening of the airport, which was almost okayed by the National Security Adviser before we heard about the attack on Maiduguri. It was indeed a huge setback for us in Borno State.”he said.

If I Knew Shekau’s Whereabouts, I Won’t Tell Nigeria- Chadian President

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Staff Reporter

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The Chadian President, Idris Deby, who earlier this year was quoted as saying he knew the whereabouts of wanted Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, has backtracked on his claim while also insisting on keeping any possible knowledge of the location of the terrorist to himself. “I cannot tell you today that I know where Shekau is hiding and even if I knew I won’t tell you,” Mr. Deby told journalists on Monday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Mr. Deby spoke after a meeting with Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan. The Chadian President stated that the war against Boko Haram had not yet been totally won because Chad and Nigeria were not working together on the field.

He said it was regrettable that the “two armies that is the Nigerian army and the Chadian Army are working separately in the field”. “They are not undertaking joint operation,” he said. “If they were operating joint operation probably they would have achieved more results.”

Mr. Deby had, sometime in March, accused Nigeria of downplaying the threat from Boko Haram and failing to cooperate with the regional coalition battling the jihadists, saying there had been zero contact between their armies.

Chad, Cameroon and Niger were believed to have also joined forces since January to battle Boko Haram, whose insurgency has claimed more than 13,000 lives in northern Nigeria since 2009.

The Chadian President at the time said he was baffled by the Nigerian government’s lack of cooperation with the offensive. “Two months after the start of this war, we have not had any direct contact with the Nigerian army units on the ground,” he had told the French weekly.

In his response to journalists at the State House Abuja, the Chadian President said it was important for him to come to discuss with the Nigerian President as he leaves office to review “what we did together, what we achieved together in the fight against Boko Haram”.

He further stated that it is true that Boko Haram has not been completely eradicated. “But they have been tremendously weakened,” he said. “I did not want to wait and come during the inauguration of the new government. I thought I should come to consult with Mr. President, to congratulate him and to have this exchange and have overview of what we have been able to achieve in the fight against Boko Haram”.

Chad, one of Nigeria’s closest neighbours has been involved in the fight against Boko Haram as it is also being affected by the insurgency. Responding to questions on the multinational task force fighting in Lake Chad, he explained, “In the Lake Chad Basin, there are four countries Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad and Niger that are currently securing the area. The four countries have managed to form a multinational mixed force that will metamorphose to what is probably known as a Rapid Response Force that the African Union is trying to form for Africa.”

On the 2015 general elections, Mr. Deby congratulated Mr. Jonathan for the show of statesmanship demonstrated during the elections. “We all know that elections in Africa is always contested but Mr. President demonstrated a lot of statesmanship, that he is a real democrat by conceding and congratulating the President-elect,” he said.

“You all know that when Nigeria sneezes, the neighbouring countries catch cold. If Mr. President had not taken that laudable initiative you all know what would have happened now. Nigeria is still living in peace, you all are living in peace and that would not have happened but for that laudable initiative he took.

“So I came to congratulate him for leaving a legacy not only for Nigeria but for Africa as a whole”.

Credit: premiumtimesng

Shekau Reportedly Flees Nigeria…

Posted on May 9, 2015 by Staff Reporter

As the military deploys its special force units to track the fleeing leader of the Boko Haram sect, Abubakar Shekau, there are strong indications that the terror kingpin may have fled Nigeria through the help of Islamic State (ISIS) groups operating in East and North Africa.

Saturday Sun gathered that with the recent loss of his group’s caliphate headquarters, Gwoza to the Nigerian troops and the invasion of Sambisa forest by a detachment of the nation’s special force units deployed from their base in Makurdi, Benue State, the Boko Haram leader saw his capture as imminent.
According to dependable military intelligence sources, Shekau had to send emissaries to ISIS affiliates with strongholds in East and North Africa to pave the way for his escape to their region from where he intends to coordinate his group’s activities or ultimately relocate to ISIS headquarters in the Middle East.

One of the sources revealed that

“having discovered that he was being tracked through his Thuraya satellite phone, Shekau recently dropped the line and handset totally to evade capture. But the last satellite image of him and other intelligence pieced together by forces on the battle frontline show his desperation to escape from the country to parts of East Africa or North Africa where ISIS is having some footholds.”

The source, a red neck military chief further told Saturday Sun that

“as part of moves being made by Shekau, he now relocates with fewer guards and limited number of lieutenants knowing his movement schedule. This is to frustrate intelligence gathering efforts by security forces and avoid attracting the focus of satellite image capturing technology deployed by some foreign super powers and shared with the Nigerian security forces.”

“A recent intelligence from one of our foreign partners shows the Boko Haramleader clean shaven which totally alters his look. That heightens our curiosity about his motive, before we got other evidence that pointed to the fact that he was trying to cross the border”, the source added.

As earlier exclusively by Saturday Sun, Shekau had stayed in crisis-ridden Northern Mali to coordinate the training and operations of the militant group before they were flushed out of there by a joint French and African forces, including Nigerian troops. He thereafter crossed the porous borders to join his foot soldiers in Borno State.

“He may not find it easy to return to Mali this time round but we suspect he may be targeting East Africa or parts of North Africa such as Libya and Egypt where some islamist groups are causing instability now”, a senior military chief involved in the prosecution of the war against the militant group told Saturday Sun, adding that he cannot categorically say whether Shekau had indeed escaped or still in the country.

“On whether he has successfully escaped from Nigeria, I have no such information but at the same time I cannot rule that out because of his level of desperation to flee and his links with some other groups within the region and even beyond”, the source stressed, adding: “What we strongly believe at this moment is that he is still within our reach or that of our neighbours; especially Niger and Chad. He may find it difficult to move beyond these borders and may end up returning to one of our remote villages in the North-East to hide.”

The source also stated that Shekau had told some of his close lieutenants that he would rather die from gunshot from his guards than being killed by the Nigerian troops whom he regards as “infidels.”

“One of his captured commanders once disclosed that Shekau had given instructions to his personal guards to shoot him dead in the face of a confrontation with our troops who he calls infidels. He believes that makes him a martyr”, the source added.

“We have an ongoing war against terrorists in this country and we are determined by all means and what it takes to eliminate, capture all terrorists and destroy all their known camps.
“If in the process, any of their leaders is captured, so be it because the whole war is not about an individual. We are also determined to arrest all of them dead or alive.”

Shekau Flees Nigeria To Help ISIS?- Report

Posted on May 9, 2015 by Staff Reporter

According to dependable military intelligence sources, Shekau had to send emissaries to ISIS affiliates with strongholds in East and North Africa to pave the way for his escape to their region from where he intends to coordinate his group’s activities or ultimately relocate to ISIS headquarters in the Middle East.

One of the sources revealed that “having discovered that he was being tracked through his Thuraya satellite phone, Shekau recently dropped the line and handset totally to evade capture. But the last satellite image of him and other intelligence pieced together by forces on the battle frontline show his desperation to escape from the country to parts of East Africa or North Africa where ISIS is having some footholds.”

The source, a red neck military chief further told Saturday Sun that “as part of moves being made by Shekau, he now relocates with fewer guards and limited number of lieutenants knowing his movement schedule. This is to frustrate intelligence gathering efforts by security forces and avoid attracting the focus of satellite image capturing technology deployed by some foreign super powers and shared with the Nigerian security forces.”

It was gathered that as part of his bid to escape the heat of ongoing military operations in the Northeast Nigeria, Shekau has in the last few weeks changed his look and physical appearance dramatically. “A recent intelligence from one of our foreign partners shows the Boko Haram leader clean shaven which totally alters his look. That heightens our curiosity about his motive, before we got other evidence that pointed to the fact that he was trying to cross the border”, the source added.

The militant group had on March 7 pledged allegiance to the leadership of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The pledge, which was made by Shekau, who addressed himself as the Imam of Jamaátu Ahlus Sunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad (Boko Haram) and was addressed to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi al-Husseini al-Qurashi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

“From your brother in Allah, Abu Mohamed Abu Bakr bin Mohammed Shekau, the Imam of Jamaátu Ahlus Sunnah Lidda Awaati Wal Jihad to the Caliph of Muslims Abubakar Abu Bakr Ibrahim ibn Awad ibn Ibrahim al-Husseini al-Qurashi.

“We are sending you this message, following what Allah said in his Quran (And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allah and be not divided among yourselves) and what the Prophet, Peace be upon him said (Whoever died and he had not Imam, died by death of ignorance).

“In submission to the order of Allah “Azza wa Jal”, and submission to the order of the prophet, peace be upon him to not separate from each other and to stay united as Ummah as Jammaaáh, We announce our allegiance to the Caliph of the Muslims Ibrahim ibn Awad ibn Ibrahim al-Husseini al-Qurashi and will hear and obey in times of difficulty and prosperity, in hardship and ease, and to endure being discriminated against and not to dispute about rule with those in power, except in case of evident infidelity,” read an English-language translation of the video broadcast in Arabic.

ISIS has a few foreign groups from which it has accepted pledges, including Ansar Bayt al-Maqdisi in the Egyptian Sinai and groups of fighters in strategic areas of Libya. ISIS has a shura council that dictates the group’s strategic direction but takes a devolved, hands-off approach on tactical matters.

A week after the pledge of allegiance by Boko Haram, ISIS leadership in a statement accepted the militant group into its fold, with a promise to work with it to establish an ISIS cell in West Africa. In an audio message, a man who claimed to be the spokesperson for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, ISIS, said the group’s aim of establishing a caliphate has now been expanded to West Africa.

“He may not find it easy to return to Mali this time round but we suspect he may be targeting East Africa or parts of North Africa such as Libya and Egypt where some islamist groups are causing instability now”, a senior military chief involved in the prosecution of the war against the militant group told Saturday Sun, adding that he cannot categorically say whether Shekau had indeed escaped or still in the country.

“On whether he has successfully escaped from Nigeria, I have no such information but at the same time I cannot rule that out because of his level of desperation to flee and his links with some other groups within the region and even beyond”, the source stressed, adding: “What we strongly believe at this moment is that he is still within our reach or that of our neighbours; especially Niger and Chad. He may find it difficult to move beyond these borders and may end up returning to one of our remote villages in the North-East to hide.”

“One of his captured commanders once disclosed that Shekau had given instructions to his personal guards to shoot him dead in the face of a confrontation with our troops who he calls infidels. He believes that makes him a martyr”, the source added.

When contacted on the information that Shekau had fled the country between the last week of March and the first two weeks of April, the acting Director of Public Relations, Nigeria Army, Colonel Sani Usman said, “We have an ongoing war against terrorists in this country and we are determined by all means and what it takes to eliminate, capture all terrorists and destroy all their known camps.

“If in the process, any of their leaders is captured, so be it because the whole war is not about an individual. We are also determined to arrest all of them dead or alive.”

Credit: sunnewsonline

Boko Haram Fracturing, Say Rescued Hostages

Posted on May 5, 2015 by Staff Reporter

There are very strong indications that the insurgent group Boko Haram is fracturing as shortages of weapons and fuel have caused tension among the soldiers and the leaders.

One of the released victims told Reuters Agency that the fighters are saying that their leaders have deceived them into fighting in the name of religion.

According to some of the rescued women, the group abducted an estimated 2,000 women and girls in 2014 as it tried to create an Islamic state.

So far the army has freed nearly 700 in the past one week.

Boko Haram Allegedly Heading to South Africa to Bomb Them For Killing Nigerians?

Posted on April 30, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The dreaded Boko Haram insurgents has been spotted in Zimbabwe in transit to South Africa, according to reports by UK-based news outlet ZimEye, citing Zimbabwe’s national intelligence agency.

According to the Zimbabwean news website, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) issued an intelligence report, warning that the Islamist militant group is in Zimbabwe en route to neighbouring South Africa.

ZimEye added that the South African intelligence service has alerted police officers in Zimbabwe’s Matebeleland region about Boko Haram’s intentions to infiltrate South Africa.

Other Zimbabwean media outlets have picked up the story. One outlet, Harare24, claims, “Officers
were yesterday called for duty at around 9pm and are now temporarily stationed at selected police stations where they camp.”

iHarare reports that police spokespersons have not responded to a request for clarification on the original ZimEye report, and official statements from the government of Zimbabwe regarding Boko Haram’s potential presence in Zimbabwe do not appear to exist.

The Matebeleland region borders South Africa, where the jihadist group may seek to “carry out revenge attacks for the ill-treatment of several Nigerian nationals in the ongoing xenophobic attacks” that have left seven people dead and displaced thousands more from their homes, notes the news website.

Boko Haram released propaganda this month threatening to kill South Africans in retribution for the wave of xenophobic violence affecting Nigerians and others in that nation, though it was believed that Boko Haram members would find and kill South Africans in the areas where they operate: Northeast Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon.

Boko Haram reportedly released a video nearly two weeks ago urging South Africa to end the xenophobic attacks taking place within its borders.

Zimbabwe’s online news outlet iHarare reports that in the video, which has not yet been verified as authentic, Boko Haram warned that it would execute all South Africans in Nigeria, Chad, Niger, and other surrounding countries if the government of South Africa failed to contain the situation.

Boko Haram Leader, Shekau Shuns TIME 100 Gala

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Staff Reporter

As expected the leader of the dreaded Boko Haram sect, Abubakar Shekau, who was named among the 100 Most Influential People in the world by Time Magazine, did not attend the Gala 100 held in New York. The event held at Lincoln Center, New York was put together to celebrate the 100 influential people in the world.

His selection drew criticism from Nigerians who felt that TIME magazine might be promoting the evil of the sect by naming him as one of the Most Influential People in the World for 2015.

Three other Nigerians, namely, the president-elect, Major Gen. Muhammadu Buahri(retd), award-winning novelist, Chimamanda Adichie and BringBackOurGirls campaigner, Oby Ezekwesili made the list.

“Most Americans do not yet recognize his name, but the citizens of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, know Abubakar Shekau all too well: he is the most violent killer their country has ever seen. Shekau took over the terrorist organization Boko Haram in 2009 after the group had been weakened by Nigerian government forces.

Shekau, who is believed to be in his 30s, began to stage increasingly daring kidnapping and killing raids on schools, churches and mosques thought by Boko Haram to be violating their interpretation of Islam. The taking of over 200 schoolgirls in April 2014 brought Boko Haram into the international spotlight,” reads an honorary essay about the terrorist, written by General Carter Ham (U.S. Army, retired).

In June 2012 the United States Department of State designated Shekau as a terrorist and effectively froze his assets in the United States. Since June 2013, the Department has had a standing reward of US$7 million for information leading to Shekau’s capture through its Rewards for Justice program. In addition, the Nigerian army has offered a ?50 million reward (approximately US$300,000) for Shekau.

Buhari also did not attend the event while Ezekwesili did and called on Barrack Obama to help rescue the missing Chibok girls.

Credit – vanguard ngr

Open Letter To TIME Magazine On Shekau Making 100 Most Influential List

Posted on April 20, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Dear TIME Magazine,

Shekau is not influential in my country, the basis of this statement and ranking amongst the most popular positive great Nigerians you mentioned in that list makes it even more difficult for me to understand, how would you call a man who has killed over 15,000 of my people as influential? How would you call a man the world has called mad influential?

This is a man whose image has been generally of terrible reckoning and the you call him influential? I don’t understand the basis for that, if you wanted a list of most influential wicked terrorists in the world, if shekau tops that list, I would never have any problems with that, I would understand if you compiled a list filled with members of ISIS, alshabab and other terrorist groups we Nigerians would understand that.

Nigerians have converged together as one to hate this creature, our people have come together to make sure we normalize this situation. You put up some positive Nigerians on this list, like Our Baba, Obi Ezekwesili, we thank you for this, but why Shekau or what ever pseudonym he chooses to be called is on this list is what I still find very hard to understand.

Please times magazine don’t give this lunatic of a man any international recognition he doesn’t deserve, that’s the basis of their ill killings, they want worldwide coverage, they want the world to know about them, by putting them in a list like that makes their propaganda message more pronounced, think about a little child who is being taught to be a terrorist somewhere in Iraq, Iran or Libya, do you know what they have to say to him now?

Hi Habeeb, do you see our brother terrorist in Nigeria? He is among the 100 most influential people in the world, do you want to be influential too someday in the world? This is the right path! It gives them fuel to someday be on this list! Please times, take him out of this list and replace with a positive Nigerian!
Thank you…..

Bakare A.A for @wecarewelovenig

Buhari, Ezekwesili, Adichie, Boko Haram Leader Make Time 100 Most Influential List

Posted on April 16, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Nigeria’s President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari has been named one of the world’s most influential people by TIME Magazine.

Other Nigerians who made the list are former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, bestselling author, Chimamanda Adichie and Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau.
Read their profiles as written on TIME’s website below:

Muhammadu Buhari – A new choice for Nigeria (by Aryn Baker)
Muhammadu Buhari made history in March by becoming the first candidate to oust a sitting Nigerian President through the ballot box. Now he has to live up to voters’ expectations.

From battling the Boko Haram insurgency to tackling endemic corruption, Buhari has many
challenges ahead. The greatest may be overcoming his past as a military ruler who seized power in 1983. Already the born-again democrat is demonstrating the inclusivity necessary to lead a nation riven by ethnic and religious tensions.

“We must begin to heal the wounds and work toward a better future,” he said in his April 1 victory speech. “We do this first by extending a hand of friendship and conciliation across the political divide.” It’s a promising start for a President-to-be who wants to leave a legacy to match the historic conditions of his election.

Oby Ezekwesili (by Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe)
Like northern Uganda, where I live, northern Nigeria is very isolated. For many years, the women who were abducted from our region remained invisible.

So although I have not met Obiageli Ezekwesili, I know the #BringBackOurGirls campaign that she championed is very important. It would have taken a long time to raise awareness about the girls taken by Boko Haram without her using her platform as a former Minister of Education.

We need to remember that these girls are undergoing psychological and maybe physical torture. So I love that the campaign says, “Bring back our girls,” and not “Bring back my child.” Everybody is in unison with the parents and the relatives. Everyone is feeling their pain. Everyone will be ready to embrace the girls and offer them care and compassion if they are rescued or manage to escape.

It has been a year, and the girls haven’t been rescued, but she has made a difference by speaking about it. Not just speaking but shouting. I know some people will say she is too loudmouthed. The loud mouth is needed. People hear it.

Chimamanda Adichie – Conjurer of character (by Radhika Jones)
It’s the rare novelist who in the space of a year finds her words sampled by Beyoncé, optioned by Lupita Nyong’o and honored with the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. But the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is just that sort of novelist.

A MacArthur “genius” grant recipient, Adichie writes of the complex aftermath of Nigeria’s colonial history and her nation’s rise to prominence in an era when immigration to the West no longer means a one-way ticket. With her viral TEDxEuston talk, “We Should All Be Feminists,” she found her voice as cultural critic. (You can hear it rising midway through Beyoncé’s woman-power anthem “Flawless.”)

She sets her love stories amid civil war (Half of a Yellow Sun) and against a backdrop of racism and migration (Americanah). But her greatest power is as a creator of characters who struggle profoundly to understand their place in the world.

Abubakar Shekau – Scourge of Africa (by General Carter Ham (U.S. Army, retired)
Most Americans do not yet recognize his name, but the citizens of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, know Abubakar Shekau all too well: he is the most violent killer their country has ever seen. Shekau took over the terrorist organization Boko Haram in 2009 after the group had been weakened by Nigerian government forces.

By most accounts, Boko Haram has killed more than 10,000 people and is spreading into neighboring countries. Shekau’s latest action may finally summon a U.S. response: he has publicly aligned his group with ISIS, the terrorist group that holds territory in Syria and Iraq and has expanded its reach into Yemen and Libya.

#BringBackOurGirls: Chibok- A Wound Through Which Nigeria Will Bleed Forever! By Soyombo Ayomikun

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Staff Reporter

1. They cried

Shedding bitter tears
For days unending
For hours rolling into
Eternity,
Hoping for that miracle-
Rescue!

2. Thousands the world over
Screamed-
Rescue!
Several marched
Through streets
The world over
Screaming-
Rescue!
While Chibok bled
From the stab
Of hate

3. Now muffled
Are their voices
Gagged
By terror
After screaming
For a year,
Their souls
Battered beyond
Imagination

4. How can we
Fail to remember
The seeds of
Glory
From Chibok,
The hearts bleeding
For Nigeria?

5. How can we
Cease to shed
Tears
And wail
For Chibok?
Even if
It takes
Forever!

6. We want forests
Combed
We want hideouts
Attacked
We want our treasures
Rescued
We want terror
Floored!

7. We wish
To wake up
Someday
From this acerbic dream
And told
It never happened
That Chibok
Was never
Robbed!
If only…

8. We wish
To be told
The tears
Were never
Shed,
That the
Government
Didn’t fail us…
That t’was
All a dream!
If only…

9. We wish
To be told
That no parent
Died
Of anguish
While awaiting
The return
Of a child,
That our
Daughters
Never bled
In chains,
That t’was all
A dream!
If only…

10. We wish
We can safely
Tell our children
That the bombs
Are gone
With the sour
Dream,
That they can now
Return to their
Schools
Without the fear
Of death!
If only…

11. Our missing
Daughters
Are not just
Flesh
And bones
And blood…
They are jewels
We have sorely
Missed!
12. Through Chibok
Nigeria will bleed
Forever…
Chibok will remain
A wound
That will be fresh
Forever…
Though the damage
Has been done
Already,
We still want
Our daughters
Back…
No matter
Who they’ve
Become,
Our outstretched arms
Are waiting
To embrace them,
To wipe
The tears,
To nurse the wound-
CHIBOK!
Please #BringBackOurGirls

Soyombo Ayomikun tweets from @alabaster85

We Will Liberate Gwoza From Boko Haram By Friday- Jonathan

Posted on March 26, 2015 by Staff Reporter

President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday expressed the confidence that Nigerian troops will liberate Gwoza from members of the Boko Haram sect latest on Friday.

Once that feat is achieved, he said it would not take the nation more than one week to clean up.

Jonathan spoke while granting audience to a group of international election monitors who paid him a visit at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

“We believe by today (Thursday) or latest Friday, we will be able to take over Gwoza. If we take over Gwoza it will not take us more than one week to clean up. Now Boko Haram is not in position to come out and disrupt elections,” Jonathan told his guests.

He recalled that when security operatives advised that elections be rescheduled for security reasons, a number of people thought it was just because of the terror attacks in some parts of the North.

He however admitted that that was a major factor too because the Boko Haram set was in three states: Borno, Yobe and Adamawa at that time.

Boko Haram Kidnaps Another 400 Young Women

Posted on March 25, 2015 by Staff Reporter

In the face of claims by the Presidency and military that they’ve defeated Boko Haram, the terrorists have kidnapped more than 400 women and children from the northern Nigerian town of Damasak that was freed this month by troops from Niger and Chad.

“They (insurgents) took 506 young women and children (in Damasak). They killed about 50 of them before leaving. We don’t know if they killed others after leaving, but they took the rest with them,” a trader called Souleymane Ali told Reuters in the town.

Ali said his wife and three of his daughters were among those kidnapped…
“Two of them were supposed to get married this year. (Boko Haram) said ‘They are slaves so we’re taking them because they belong to us’.”

Troops of the African joint force last week found the bodies of at least 70 people in an apparent execution site under a bridge leading out of Damasak, where the streets remained strewn with debris and burnt-out cars after the fighting.

Mohamed Ousmane, another trader, said the militants took his two wives and three of their children.

A 40-year-old resident who gave her name as Fana said fighters had rounded up captives in the main mosque before taking them out of town. She said she saved her two children by hiding them in her house.

Credit – kokomansion.com

Shekau Still Alive – Woman Held Captive By Boko Haram

Posted on March 25, 2015 by Staff Reporter

One of the nine women who broke walls to escape from their captors in Gwoza town of Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State has revealed that Abubakar Shekau, leader of the Boko Haram, is still alive.

Chatting with newsmen in Maiduguri,she said “Shekau, who was thought to have been killed many times by the Nigerian security forces, is very much alive and healthy.”She added that the Boko Haram leader preaches in Gwoza township.”

According to the Nigerian Tribune, the woman said, before their escape from the den of the terrorists, they witnessed the killings of 75 elders of Gwoza, including her father in-law, who were hanged and their bodies left on the streets of Gwoza.

“My husband is alive, he had run away since the early days of the invasion and is currently here in Maiduguri.We were captured since then by the Boko Haram and have remained in their custody for more than three months before now.When we escaped, we travelled by night in the bushes until we arrived at Michika.Those who arrested us at Michika said we were Boko Haram’s wives, but we pleaded and having proven our innocence, they kept us for days until when the former governor of Adamawa State, Mr Boni Haruna, came to Michika.It was he who offered to help us with food and medication. When we regained our strength, he asked us many questions.

“It was during the questioning that I mentioned my husband brother’s name who is living in Adamawa and they sent for him. After he had identified me, they released me to him, before I later came to Maiduguri to unite with my family,”

The woman said she has seven children and believed they are still alive, though she is at present in one of the internally displaced persons camps in Maiduguri GRA.

Shekau’s Days Are Numbered Despite Allegiance To ISIS – Nigerian Army

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The Nigerian Army has assured Nigerians that Boko Haram’s purported allegiance to ISIS is a sign of fear and should not put fear in the hearts of Nigerians..

The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, in an interview on the Hausa service of the BBC said

“With or without allegiance to ISIS, the days of Shekau has already been numbered, because all the insurgents’ training camps and hideouts in the affected North-East have been destroyed, while the terrorists have been routed from their camps and hideouts; and those who have escaped our “condone and search operations” in the Sambisa Forest and the Lake Chad Basin Areas, are on the run, abandoning their operational vehicles, arms and ammunitions,”He said that the Boko Haram’s allegiance to ISIS was meant to cause more “fears and terror” among Nigerian citizens, because the modus operandi of insurgents, are also similar to the Islamic fundamentalists in some Middle East countries.”“Shekau’s public allegiance to IS clearly indicates that he may surrender or be killed in the ongoing joint military operations of Nigeria and three neighbouring countries of Chad, Cameroon and Niger,”

Chadian President To Smoke Out Shekau From Hideout, Tells Shekau To Surrender

Posted on March 5, 2015 by Staff Reporter

President Idriss Deby of Chad said Wednesday he knew the hideout of Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, and vowed that the leader of the insurgent group will be killed if he fails to surrender.

“It is in Abubakar Shekau’s interest to surrender, we know where he is. If he refuses to give himself up, he will suffer the same fate as his comrades,” Mr. Deby said at a press conference with his visiting Niger counterpart, news agency AFP reported.

Mr. Deby vowed to “wipe out” Boko Haram, responsible for more than 15,000 deaths. Shekau has remained in hiding since his group started out in 2009 targeting civilians, security officials, villages, schools, markets and places of worship. He however appears infrequently in propaganda videos released by the sect.

Credit: PremiumTimes

The Main Reason Why We Want Shekau Alive –- Presidency

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The federal government, yesterday, said that arresting the leader of the Boko Haram sect, Abubakar Shekau alive, will address the controversy surrounding his identity.

It also restated its commitment to achieve the feat before the rescheduled general election.

Coordinator of the National Information Centre (NIC), Mr Mike Omeri, stated this in Abuja while responding to questions from journalists on the controversy over the identity Abubakar Shekau said that it is important to get Shekau alive so that his real identity would be ascertained.

Omeri recalled that the group’s erstwhile spokesman, Abu Qaqa, “was mutating until it got to a point that he could not mutate anymore; because if one is taken out, they bring another one who will introduce himself as Abu Qaqa.

“That was established until it got to a point that they had to stop. Even when Qaqa was operating, Shekau was there; he now had to assume the role of commander of Boko Haram and spokesperson.

“From intelligence available and the conclusion of the military, the first Shekau was taken out and another one came. So the military say that they have taken out that one and they are going to take out this one; that there is a trend of a merger of their leadership.

“So I will believe that because I have not been there to see the two of them. They are the ones that have met the first one and they are the ones fighting to get this one this time around. So I will believe them until this war against terror finishes. So let’s get the man. That is why it is important to get him alive so that the full story would be told.”

Omeri further stated that the Nigerian military forces had continued to record remarkable success in the ongoing war against terror with stiff resistance against incursion by the militants into the country at several locations.

He said several towns and settlements earlier occupied by Boko Haram had been recaptured, including Gajigana, Gajiram, Gabchari, Abba Jabari, Damakar, Kumaliwa, Bosso, Karisungul, Wanti and Jeram.

He called on Nigerians to be patriotic and appreciate the effort and sacrifice of the military and security personnel by shunning the trend of cynicism among some unpatriotic Nigerians who have chosen to ascribe the recent success in the anti-terror war to external efforts.

#PAUSIBILITY: Solecism Of This Transformation – Adebayo Coker

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Ordinarily, I do a weekly submission but my musing wouldn’t let me rest.

I am sure you will wonder the kind of paragraphs that will follow this opening. Some people will develop further defence when am done answering this question due to their embryonic stance on Americanism; they usually would say “ the fact that it worked in America doesn’t mean it is good for us”. To this set of people I will say I agree with them to the extent that until when we are ready to develop our own peculiar models to proffering solutions to our own peculiar problems, I will continue to use suitable examples from any part of the world.

Let me quickly draw a line of relationship between Hurricane Sandy and Boko Haram. Although they both proffered a saving grace scenario to the leaders of two wonderful countries in the world, whose popularity amongst their people was drowning, but like any survivalist would grapple for any thin line of hope that is likely to sustain their continued existence. The opportunity for redemption came. One of the leaders saw and acted accordingly as is expected of a leader who is in sync with his people but the other frittered away his chance.

Hurricane Sandy affected some parts of the United States Of America at about the peak of the decline of President Barrack Obama’s popularity. The Americans waited for him at the poll to send him out of the White House because so many of his promises were believed to be mere verbosity with little or no chance of reality. The election year came and the campaign started; movement from state to state, typical of political campaigns. True, it was another round of grandiosity from the first black man President of the most powerful nation in the world, but along the way came Hurricane Sandy; very disastrous ( not the first hurricane or disaster though) but was one of the (if not THE ONLY) saving grace of Obama in that election year. Barrack abandoned all campaigns and went to sympathise with the bereaved. He did it so genuinely that many yet-to-decide Americans at that time, even when they knew it will be another term of same and the same, gave their votes to him nonetheless. He won with a landslide victory.

Boko Haram is a menace that has been terrifying the entire Nigeria nation (whichever way we look at it we are all in this together), the most populous black nation in the world. The Shekau scourge became intense just few years ago. When the whole world was wondering what the FG was doing to address the issue and were ready to their give utmost support to the government to get this hydra- headed monster annihilated once and for all the government saw another rhythm to it that the rest of the world was not listening to. They claimed this is a guerrilla war, not conventional and will require some level of expertise to address. Quite understandable. But for six years that the FG sought training of military personnel, chaos was let lose. Thousands of lives were lost. People were dehumanized and killed. Girls and boys were kidnapped, conscripted into the sect and used to cause further mayhem on Nigerian communities. Parts of the country were seized and flags hoisted establishing the sect’s territory within Nigeria, a sovereign nation!

In the reign of all this, the President saw nothing threatening as long as it was not anywhere near Aso Rock. He did not act as expected of a Commander-in-Chief. Rather, he partied and danced on the graves of so many lives that were lost. He enjoyed his campaigns of calumny till the last minute, sometime two weeks ago.

Just as election came and Sandy presented a saving grace for Obama, so also election came and what was considered inconsequential so long as it could be used as a factor in a political permutation, is now a curse for this President.

Had this administration acted rightly six years ago by decimating or working assiduously to decimate the insurgents, some Nigerians will, at least, see a path of moral recompense to the President by giving him their votes because of that act of bravery. The President lacks every moral right to ask for any reimbursement whatsoever. His prehensile associates and aides miscalculated on that.

The recent exploits being recorded by the Nigeria Armed Forces in routing the insurrection just after the six weeks solecism, is a pointer that truly and truly, this government knew what to do all the while to stem this menace but chose the path of wickedness as they had thought that by allowing the crisis to fester( I suspect complicity), a State of Emergency will be declared in the Northeast, then the PDP will have a roller coaster ride back to power… the heart of man is desperately wicked…

In the face of this deliberate delay to score a cheap political point which has led to loss of lives and properties, I hereby endorse CHANGE as the only panacea to this transformation that polarized us along sectional and sectarian lines. A transformation that underestimated the enemies of Nigeria bringing about a Rwandani-treat to our people. A transformation that makes me buy fuel to power my generator to watch the President on national TV, launching a power station purportedly generating some immeasurable megawatts of power. A transformation that has turned unyielding goons to sudden billionaires. A transformation being led by a President that wants to enjoy the full benefits and appurtenances of office but has shamelessly failed (on many occasions) to stand up to the functionality and responsibility of office. A re-commissioning transformation.

I laugh.

BTW

Is Marilyn on vacation?

FG Plan To Create Their Own Shekau To Blackmail The Opposition Party – APCOPC

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation has raised the alarm about reports of a fake Abubakar Shekau (Boko Haram leader) allegedly being paraded by the Federal Government, which it says the government intends to use to create an impression that it is winning the war on terrorism.

It said credible sources had alerted the APC that the fake Shekau might become a tool to blackmail members of the opposition “by coaching the phantom terror chief” to say he was working for the opposition party candidate, Maj. Gen Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), in order to link its presidential candidate to terrorism as it had attempted but failed in the past.

A statement by the Director of Media and Publicity of the APCOPC, Malam Garba Shehu, wondered where the “new Shekau” would come from after government, at several times in the past, announced that it had killed the insurgents’ leader.

“The charge to the military, that they should catch Shekau alive by the President in the last 24 hours, lends credence to the report that indeed a fake Shekau is about being created,” it said.

The statement noted that “the profile of the leader of the insurgents, Shekau, of a dedicated ideologue,” presupposed that the man was not likely to allow himself to be caught alive.

“It is both contradictory to the ideology he preaches and the psychological profile that the world has of him that Shekau would allow himself to be caught alive,” the statement said.

The APCPCO recalled that the attack in Kaduna, on the party’s presidential candidate, was believed by most Nigerians that it was perpetrated by the Boko Haram.

It added, “The police that are constitutionally empowered to investigate and report on such incidents have not contradicted the widespread belief that this was a Boko Haram’s attack.

“The view of the APC is that it does not make sense for General Muhammadu Buhari to be in league with, or be associated in any way with people who have set out to kill him.”

Source – Punch Ng

We Would Catch Shekau Before March 28th Elections – Jonathan

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Staff Reporter

President Goodluck Jonathan has said that he believes the leader of the insurgent group, Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, responsible for thousands of deaths, will be apprehended by government forces before Nigeria’s elections starting March 28.

Mr. Jonathan disclosed this in an interview with Thisday newspaper on Friday.

?”God willing we will catch Shekau before the elections,” Mr. Jonathan said in response to a question on what his government is doing about Mr. Shekau’s threat to disrupt the elections.

Mr. Shekau, whose group has killed over 15,000 Nigerians, has remained elusive since the sect launched its series of deadly attacks in 2009.

In September 2014, claims by the Nigerian military that Mr. Shekau had been killed during a shoot-out turned out to be a hoax.

Efforts by the Nigerian government to improve the capacity of the army through arms procurement have been repeatedly frustrated by foreign authorities as claims of human rights abuses loom over the military.

But government forces have made significant gains in the war against Boko Haram in the last two weeks, reclaiming some areas seized by the militants.

Mr. Jonathan admitted that the strength of Nigeria’s military was not commensurate with its position as Africa’s largest economy, adding that his government is determined to look inwards for arms procurement.

“Concerning the military strength being not at par to that of Nigeria’s economic development, there are some countries that don’t have powerful military,” Mr. Jonathan said.

“I don’t think Switzerland has a very powerful military. There are some countries that were even doing away with their military until this issue of terror, and now some of them are reconsidering.

“What happened in Nigeria is that after the civil war we had no reasons to buy sophisticated weapons. Since after the civil war, all what we have been doing is peace keeping, apart from stabilising Liberia and Sierra Leone, where our soldiers really fought war to stabilise those countries.

“Back home, we were at peace with our neighbours. It is now that we are witnessing Boko Haram that we see that fighting them is not what we do with AK 47, and now we have to look for money. I totally agree with you, if Brazil can manufacture commercial helicopter, what stops us from going into manufacturing.”

The president further said that if re-elected, his administration would focus on local technologies for arms production.

“Recently, we wanted to buy tear-gas from a country and they were bragging and saying that Nigeria has human rights abuse issues. I kept wondering what is tear-gas? I vowed that God willing if I return, Nigeria must produce tear-gas,” he said.

“What is the technology of producing tear-gas for God’s sake? What is the technology of producing APCs and armoured tanks? I agree with you that in terms of manufacturing, we must and we have no choice than to get into it as a nation. That is why we are emphasising about local content in production; that you can witness in the automobile industry which has come back.”

Mr. Jonathan also said that more companies would be issued licenses to produce arms, to complement the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria, DICON.

Source – Premium Times

VIDEO: Shekau Shot 2 of His Commanders After Defeat, Eye Witness Reveals

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Staff Reporter

A 14 year old escapee spoke to Al-Jazeera and confessed to the inhumane treatment meted out to captives and the total disregard for human lives in the camps of the terrorists.

He said, “The biggest loss by Boko Haram I witnessed was in Gamboru in the hands of the military; the leader was so furious that he shot and killed two commanders right before us. The most frightening battle was the attack on Baga, when the town was attacked. Initially, it was difficult to break through…”

Credit: YouTube/ AlJazeera

FULL VIDEO: Shekau Threatens To Disrupts Polls

Posted on February 18, 2015 by Staff Reporter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SITmYadCL9w#t=21

BREAKING: Shekau in New Video, Vows to Crush Regional Forces

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Shekau vowed in a new video released on Monday that the group would defeat a regional force fighting the extremists in Nigeria’s far northeast, Niger and Cameroon.

“Your alliance will not achieve anything. Amass all your weapons and face us. We welcome you,” he said in a 28-minute speech, one of three videos posted by the Islamists on YouTube.

Troops from Nigeria have been backed by soldiers from Chad, Cameroon and Niger in recent weeks because of increased concerns about Boko Haram’s threat to regional security.

Read More: news.yahoo.com

Shekau Burns Nigerian Flag, Calls Buhari an Infidel (Watch Video)

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Staff Reporter

In a full 35:59 minutes video, self acclaimed leader of Boko haram, burnt the Nigerian flag and hoisted the black boko haram flag.

In the video, Shekau predominately spoke in Arabic but revealed in Hausa that the massacre in Baga is just the tip of the iceberg. He mocked president Jonathan and called APC presidential candidate, General Buhari, an infidel. He also threatened the President of Niger Republic and insulted the government of France over a french news report he (Shekau) read, claiming the French government is not just at war with terrorists, but with all Muslims.

The group also flaunted sophisticated weapons they claim can destroy Nigeria and said they seized them from the raid in Baga. Watch video below and hear from the horses mouth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWwDwFMbkvM

I Followed God’s Instruction, Shekau Claims Baga Massacre

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Boko Haram has claimed a massive attack feared to be the worst in its six-year insurgency and threatened Nigeria’s neighbours, as talks began for a regional response to the militants and fears grew of further violence.

The confirmation from Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau came as no surprise after multiple eye-witness accounts of the attack on Baga, which is thought to have killed hundreds, if not more.

But Shekau claimed that the January 3 attack, in which large parts of Baga were burnt to the ground and at least 16 surrounding settlements were razed, was only a prelude to further attacks.

“We killed the people of Baga. We indeed killed them, as our Lord instructed us in His Book,” Shekau said in the 35-minute message, which was posted on YouTube. He added: “We will not stop. This is not much. You’ll see.”

Read More:

Abubakar Shekau: Nine Lives Or Nine Liars

Posted on October 3, 2014 by Staff Reporter

So long as the Francophone media is bent on dragging Nigeria to its begging knees, Shekau will never die. The controversy on the death of Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau is one that is entirely manufactured by Globalist media. It is nothing less than media terrorism by the desperate colonialists. But these globalist media cannot be solely blamed. It is us who have Boko Haram sponsors in the Presidency and as our army Chiefs after all. Protected, supported and paid with billions by our President. We have no credibility and as long as this nation keeps such clueless and adamantly wicked men at its helm, the globalist media will continue to disgrace and terrorize us and will keep Shekau immortal.

The globalist media has stubbornly insisted on denying the fact that we have killed two of the very Shekaus they have themselves shown in videos as the actual person. They pretend not to notice the very different people who all impersonate Shekau in the many videos they release as a singular person, but when we kill these very people they just publicized then they say it wasn’t him and push out the next available video of another of his impersonators, gleefully, as soon as Boko Haram sells it to them.

The latest bump-head Shekau we killed has been promoted by them on many occasions as the one and only Shekau. Now they are releasing video of droopy left lip, almond eye Shekau. The minute we kill this one again, they will bring out the next and the next, in frank terrorism and with an ultimate plan to frustrate Nigeria into submission for foreign complete invasion and destruction as was done to Libya; thanks to our participant, wealth blinded, terrible leadership.

It is ironic that in 2011 when America “killed” Osama who we all know was already dead since 2001, and never showed us even a single picture of his dead body, none of these very media questioned the blatant lies. But now they invest heavily in giving our Shekau nine lives.

It’s not their fault; it is our fault for electing leaders with no shoes because we were colonially battered into a dumb foreign tribalist culture. With our President who scores world worsts every time, recently of note, doing abominable things like using the #BringBackGoodluck” slogan, how will they ever fear and respect us? After all, when late President Umaru Yar’Adua killed Mohammed Yusuf, the actual Boko Haram leader believed and touted to be immortal, dem no born any globalist media well (translated: No media had the guts) to broadcast video’s of his aspiring impersonators.

A little time, 2015 or 2019, this will all be over. #VictoryForNigeria. We stand by our Civilian-JTF and active soldiers, those engaged in the battle front, not the morbidly obese, cash bloated, Abuja barrack land usurping Boko Haram sponsor Army ogas at the top.

Dr. Peregrino Brimah; http://ENDS.ng [Every Nigerian Do Something] Email: drbrimah@ends.ng Twitter: @EveryNigerian

Views Expressed are Solely the Author’s.

Americans Doubt Reports of Shekau’s Death

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Staff Reporter

The United States voiced skepticism Thursday over reports from the Nigerian military that Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau had been killed in recent clashes with troops.

“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.

“What I read recently is that Shekau’s lookalike or some Shekau impostor was killed and then I read later that maybe Shekau himself was killed. I don’t put a lot of weight on those stories until we see more evidence,” the official added, asking not to be identified.

The Nigerian defense ministry said on Wednesday that Shekau was dead and that one Bashir Mohammed, killed during recent clashes with troops, was a lookalike who had been impersonating him in videos.

The announcement was the first time that the military high command had said Shekau was dead, after refusing to confirm two previous claims from police and a regional task force in 2009 and 2013.

But analysts also dismissed it as propaganda, and the State Department official highlighted that Boko Haram was still carrying out attacks.

Nigerian Army Warns Next Shekau

Posted on September 25, 2014 by Staff Reporter

Following the surrender of 268 Boko Haram terrorists to Nigerian troops, the Nigerian Army has warned that any other person or leader who emerges using the name ‘Shekau’ will receive the same treatment.

Reports say an evidence provides that the Boko Haram commander, Mohammed Bashir, has been impersonating the late sect leader, Abubakar Shekau, who had been killed on September 17.

The warning was made just as 135 members of the terrorist group have surrendered to troops in Biu, Mairiga-Buni Yadi as well as Mubi-Michika towns.

Briefing the media on current developments in the Counter Terrorism Campaign on Wednesday, Director of Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade said, “Since the name Shekau has become a brand name for the terrorists leader, the Nigerian military remains resolute to serve justice to anyone who assumes that designation or title as well as all terrorists that seek to violate the freedom and territory of Nigeria”.

Disclosing that many of the insurgents have been surrendering to the Nigerian troops, Olukolade said, “A total of 135 terrorists on Tuesday evening surrendered with equipment, to troops around Biu local government area. A group of 88 submitted themselves at Mairiga-BuniYadi while another group of 45 terrorists were taken in, around Mubi-Michika”.

He said they are all being interrogated and processed in conformity with the dictates of standard best practices”.
Explaining how the operation was going on, General Olukolade said, “Nigerian troops have been conducting coordinated air and land operations in furtherance of efforts at containing the terrorists in the North East part of the country”.

He adds that, “Somehow, it became apparent that the terrorists in continuation of their campaign of terror were determined to take over communities around Maiduguri which is their prime target. There was therefore the need to ensure that communities such as Konduga were protected… It is noteworthy that the terrorists made not less than four attempts between 12 and 17 September 2014 to violate the security and enter Konduga to perpetrate their atrocities. Air and land forces were subsequently deployed to handle the situation… The convoy of combat vehicles typical of terrorists’ mission that involves their top commanders were fiercely engaged by the land and air forces. Several of the terrorists including some of their commanders lost their lives in the encounters which lasted an average of about 5 hours each. The troops captured some of the terrorists and their equipment”.

He further stated that, “On restoring normalcy after the encounter, inhabitants of the community who were victims of terrorists activities corroborated information on the identity of Bashir Mohammed alias Abubakar Shekau; alias Abacha Abdullahi Geidam; alias Damasack; etc. Indeed, the recent devastation on the leadership of the insurgents is attributable to the renewed commitment to the mission of eradicating terrorism in our country”.

Encouraging the Nigerian troops he said, “The Defence Headquarters applauds the gallantry of the Nigerian troops who have remained undaunted and professional in prosecuting this campaign against terror. The keen interest exhibited by our neighbours and allies is commendable and we appreciate them… All allies in the war against terrorism are hereby assured of the Nigerian military’s resolve to maintain momentum in the efforts to decimate and defeat terrorists. The invaluable efforts toward achieving sustainable peace and victory against the terrorists are highly appreciated… It is nevertheless necessary to alert all citizens that there is still the need for even more vigilance and cooperation with the security forces. Everybody is required to remain alert to ensure that we are not taken unawares by terrorist elements who might want to carry-out isolated attacks in any part of our country”.

Nigeria & Cameroon Tussle over “Killing Shekau”

Posted on September 23, 2014 by Staff Reporter

Nigeria and Cameroon are locked in an argument over who killed Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau and where he was killed.

A Cameroon military source, according to Cameroon Concord, said on Sunday night that Shekau was killed following an aerial bombardment of his hideout inside Nigeria.

Releasing photos of Shekau, the Cameroonian army claim the terrorist was killed during a cross-border raid within the Nigeria territory by its military.

Dinah Adams: Killing 100 Shekau will Barely Change a Thing

Posted on September 23, 2014 by Staff Reporter

Just like the killing of Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf (founder of Boko Haram), did not curb the driving extremism of this sick fanaticism, the corpse of Abubakar Skekau will barely do same. Who would have thought that Mohammed Yusuf had the complete loyalty of people who were way more dreaded than he is. Unlike Mohammed Yusuf, Shekau butchered both women and children with ease and his brutality extended to using girls and boy as suicide bombers.

Mohammed Yusuf was guided by an extreme philosophy, which he passed on to devotees, who in turn are passing it on to loyalists and sympathizers. “Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad”, which is the official name of Boko Haram (Western Education is Sin) has absolutely no tallying or corresponding agreement the English translation of the official name of the sect, that is, “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad”.

This same distorted and insane conception is ferociously breathing and alive even at the death of the preceptor.

These are the beliefs that are alive in the likes of Shekau and many other loyalist, hence the killing of Shekau or a 100 of his kind will barely change anything.

Former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, stated in a recent interview that the coalition of the West must fight not only ISIS, but its ideology. He sates further that,

“It’s an ideology based in a complete perversion of the proper faith of Islam, but it is powerful. It is proselytized and preached by people in mosques and madrasas not just in countries like Pakistan and parts of the Middle East and parts of Africa, but back in parts of Britain… How do you root this kind of teaching out and make it absolutely clear that it is completely unacceptable to teach these forms of extremism?”

The US State Department’s Center for Strategic Counter terrorism Communications also released a short video clip to counter the ideology of ISIS. They complied fragments of footage from ISIS videos, showing their brutality and employed sarcasm and rhetoric to mock their course and at the same time endeavored to sensitize the understanding of sympathizers and potential recruits. It may seem unreal but ISIS has recruited a good number of soldiers and devotees online.

Hence, it is not all about armoury (not that we can boast of much), but the Nigerian Government must strategically address this issue from its root. Security intelligence should be put to play more because words on the street has it that Boko Haram has solid financial backing and sophisticated armoury. In essence, more brain and less muscle is required to confront this issue of insurgency once and for all.

Most importantly, people claim that these insurgents are not Muslims. In order not to get things mixed up here, their official name in English again means “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad”.

Now the big question is, Where are the Islamic Scholars, Imams and Teachers who are meant to correct these distorted perception of Islam?

Enough of blaming the Government when we as a society have tolerated filtrated teachings in our religious institutions and settings. We have failed to define the thick line between religion and fanaticism and have allowed inhumane practices to carried out on our very own soil in the name of God.

The fight against terrorism is far from assembling rocket launchers, AK 47 and armoured tanks. It is about us not just standing for what is right but doing it. It is about inculcating into your son, daughter, brother, friend, sister and even colleagues the truths that we are loosing a grip on. This battle is therefore not physical but psychological and should be confronted as such.

Dinah Adams @didiyargata