Abubakar Shekau, the acclaimed leader of the Boko Haram terrorist group, on Thursday released a video in which he claimed he was not killed as claimed by the Nigerian and Cameroonian troops recently.
The alleged death of Shekau and photographs as proof resulted in jubilation across Nigeria last week as the troops said they killed Shekau in Konduga.
But in the new 36-minute video which showed Shekau, in combat fatigues and black rubber boots, standing on the back of a pick-up truck and firing an anti-aircraft gun into the air, he debunked claims of his death saying he would only die the day Allah destines.
He also said his men were running the various towns and villages that make up the Boko Haram caliphate, instilling strict Sharia discipline in the areas.
When the news of his death broke, a Nigerian journalist, who is believed to be close to the group had insisted that Shekau was not dead.
In the video obtained by Agence-France-Presse (AFP), Shekau said: “here I am, alive. I will only die the day Allah takes my breath.”
Standing in front of three camouflaged vans and flanked by four heavily armed, masked fighters, Shekau spoke for 16 minutes in Arabic and the Hausa language.
The heavily bearded Shekau, who appeared to be the same as those in previous clips, said the military’s claim that he was dead was propaganda.
“Nothing will kill me until my days are over… I’m still alive. Some people asked you if Shekau has two souls. No, I have one soul, by Allah,” he said from a script.
“It is propaganda that is prevalent. I have one soul. I’m an Islamic student.
“I’m the Islamic student whose seminary you burnt… I’m not dead,” he added, in reference to the destruction of the group’s mosque in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, in 2009.
“We are running our caliphate, our Islamic caliphate. We follow the Koran. We now practise the injunctions of the Koran in the land of Allah,” he added.
The group also claimed to have shot down a Nigerian air force jet that went missing nearly three weeks ago, a claim by Nigeria’s top military officer, Air Commodore Dele Alonge, discarded as mere propaganda and rubbish.
Last week, the Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, said during a news conference in Abuja that the corpse of the insurgents’ leader was identified by the people of Kodunga.
Olukolade further released pictures of the bullet-ridden corpse with Shekau’s semblance and a video of the battle in which he was killed.
But there were discrepancies over the identity of the ‘Shekau’ as Olukolade gave Shekau’s real name as Mohammed Bashir, saying he had used other names like Abacha Abdullahi Geidam and Damasack.
A former US Ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell, had during that period doubted the military’s claim saying it was difficult to believe Shekau was killed by Nigerian troops.
“Who knows whether Shekau is alive or dead? The question may not matter much. As Boko Haram’s resurrection after the killing of its genuinely charismatic leader, Mohammed Yusuf, shows, the movement is remarkably resilient, and not dependent on a single leader.
“If Shekau is alive, as I suspect he is, evidence is scant as to what his actual role in the movement’s leadership is. Boko Haram is more than Abubakar Shekau, alive or dead,” he said.
This is the third time Shekau is claimed to have been killed only for him to resurface. The first was in 2009 during the unrest in Maiduguri and the other one was in 2013.
