Boko Haram’s Shekau alive, taunts Nigeria’s military

Abubakar Shekau, leader of Nigeria’s Boko Haram declared dead by the defunct military task force, is alive.

News reports said Shekau has appeared in a new video, doing what he knows how best to do: taunting Nigerian troops about his invincibilty.

“Here is Shekau, Shekau, Shekau, Shekau, original … I want the whole world to know that I’m alive by the grace of Allah,” he says.
“The world should know that I cannot die except by the will of Allah.”

In the video he also taunts world leaders, saying they will be disappointed that he is still alive.

Sitting on the ground with an AK-47 leaning against his shoulder, he names Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, US President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Britain’s Queen Elizabeth.

It was not clear when or where the video was recorded, but Shekau, speaking in the Hausa language, references recent attacks in northeastern Nigeria, denounces democracy and pledges to keep fighting.

Nigeria’s military has not yet responded to the new video, but last month, national defence spokesman Chris Olukolade distanced himself from the claim that Shekau may have been killed.

Olukolade told AFP shortly after the taskforce made its statement that the military had “yet to get confirmation on that”, while local media reported unease within the military over the claim that Shekau, declared a “global terrorist” by the United States, may have been killed.

The video, distributed through an intermediary to local reporters, shows the man believed to be Shekau surrounded by a group of fighters dressed in camouflage who are also holding AK-47s.

It comes after an outburst of violence in northeastern Nigeria in recent days, leaving scores of people dead and casting doubt over the effectiveness of a military assault seeking to end Boko Haram’s four-year insurgency.

Shekau was sitting in a jungle environment surrounded by dozens of lieutenants dressed in fatigues, the Associated Press reported.

He said Boko Haram was celebrating victories in Benisheik, where more than 143 civilians were killed, in Monguno and surrounding northern villages where more than a dozen civilians have been killed this month.