Boko Haram Leader Abubakar Shekau reportedly dead.
The dreaded Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau has been reportedly dead.
The dreaded Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau has been reportedly dead.
The Bloody Narcissist was said to have blown himself up alongside the negotiators when asked to relinquish power, to avoid being captured alive.
This incident took place on Wednesday evening following the invasion of Boko Haram base in the Sambisa forest area by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters.
ISWAP, which broke away from Boko Haram in 2016 after pledging allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS), attacked the Boko Haram Base using multiple gun trucks
ISWAP reportedly tracked down Shekau’s hideout, killed most of his fighters in the process, followed by a long gun duel between the two terror groups.
According to reports, ISWAP was able to subdue Shekau Bodyguards, Shekau surrendered and engaged in an hours-long meeting with the ISWAP fighters. During the parley, he was asked to voluntarily relinquish power and order his fighters in other areas to declare bai’a (allegiance) to ISWAP’s authority. They had expected Shekau to issue a statement.
Sources within the insurgency, however, said that Shekau who secretly had a suicide vest on eventually blew himself up alongside everyone present during the negotiations.
The identities of the people within ISWAP’s leadership who lost their lives to the explosion remain unclear at this time.
Shekau had been the leader of Boko Haram since 2009 following the death of the group’s founder, Mohammed Yusuf. He had been rumored to have been killed at least four times between July 2009 and Aug. 2015. In Aug. 2016, the Nigerian Air Force claimed he had been “fatally wounded” by military bombardments, but the terror group released a video only a month later showing he was alive and in good health.
However, in similar news, Members of the now dislodged Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) have shared food items with residents of Borno and Yobe states.
According to newsmen, the insurgents distributed food items including rice, beans, millet, maize, sugar, spaghetti as well as cash gifts to the residents.
Moreso, Boko Boys claimed the gesture is to help the residents observe the Ramadan fast with ease.
However, a security source claimed the welfare package might be part of a grand plan by the Boko Boys to lull and recruit new members into their rank and file.
“Imagine, they (insurgents) claimed that the gesture was aimed at assisting villagers to perform Ramadan fast and Sallah with ease and happiness, the same villagers they killed their friends and family members,” the source said.
