Shekau Priority To Be Capture Dead Or Alive

 

Shekau has not been seen in action for a long time, fuelling speculation that he might have been killed or fatally wounded in battle with the Nigerian armed forces.

Abubakar Shekau has been killing and maiming since 2009, is he still alive? 

The Department of State Security Service (DSS), under the Jonathan administration, had announced the death of the Boko Haram leader many times, and many times he resurfaced in poorly produced videos, claiming he was alive and could not be killed.

 

The military and intelligence organisations in Nigeria, however, have chosen to work with the premise that Shekau is alive and must be driven to his early grave for the Boko Haram war to end. 

To them, the capture of the terrorist commander, dead or alive, remains a top priority that must be accomplished before the end of the year to prove to the world that the Buhari administration has no room for compromise with evil.

But Shekau has not featured in any video or released any message to his followers or the Nigerian government in the past four months, as he used to in the past. 

His leadership of Boko Haram came under serious contention in August when the Chadian leader Idriss Deby, announced that Shekau was no longer the leader of Boko Haram, having been replaced by one Mahamat Daoud, an hitherto unknown name in the rank and file of the sect. 

Deby, who spoke on the occasion marking the 55th anniversary of his country, said, “There is someone apparently called Mahamat Daoud, who is said to have replaced Abubakar Shekau and he wants to negotiate with the Nigerian government.” 

But close to two months, the said Daoud has neither openly accepted the leadership position given him nor made any statement relating to the organisation. 

No leader of the group has also made any comment concerning the olive branch extended to the group by the Buhari administration to come forward for dialogue with a view to releasing the over 200 girls the violent men took from their hostel in Chibok, Borno State  in April 2014.

The fear of  Shekau was responsible for the non-emergence of a new leader even as it has appeared that Shekau has not been seen in the public for many months running.

A source with knowledge in the affairs of the group said the influence of the Boko Haram leader still looms large and will continue for a long time even if the man was not physically seen by his followers. 

One of the sources said: “The fear of Shekau is so pervasive to the extent that no one would dare to declare himself the leader of the group even if he does not show up for a long time to come.

 

You can also be sure that no one would go forward to negotiate with Nigeria if Shekau does not give the necessary directives for such a dialogue. What has been happening is that individuals within the Boko Haram camps have been making informal contacts with the Presidency with a view to ending the crisis.

 

“But as a group, Shekau has not given any formal order for its commanders and leaders to open negotiations with the Nigerian government.” 

There were claims ‘last night, that if anyone not authorised by Shekau declared himself as the leader of the group, his  commanders could eliminate such person within 24 hours, apparently to prove that his group is in control of the architecture of the terrorists network within and outside Nigeria.

“I tell you that no person is bold enough to come and claim Shekau’s position despite his disappearance from the scene for a long time. Everyone still defers to him. Whether dead or alive, Shekau holds the key to the Boko Haram establishment. As it is, anyone who dares to speak against him could be a dead man in the next 24 hours. That is how powerful, feared and adored the man, Shekau, is perceived by his followers in and outside Nigeria,” one source explained.

The stalemate in the Boko Haram camp notwithstanding, the Buhari administration is pressing ahead with a mind-set to pound the insurgents from land and air while holding out its olive branch for dialogue. 

While in France, last week, President Muhammadu Buhari made it clear that while he was ready to discuss a ceasefire with the sect, he was not in a hurry to open talks with phantom groups but with the real leaders of the group to avoid the mistakes of the past where the Presidency was made to part with hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ money in the name of negotiating with the terrorists.  

For instance, in one of such tactless outings, last year, a top Presidency official was said to have made Nigeria to part with at least $23 million (about N2.3 billion) under the guise of sealing a ceasefire with Boko Haram leaders in Ndjamena, the Chadian capital. 

But shortly after a former Chief of the Defence Staff and a principal staff in the Presidency had announced the deal, the real Boko Haram leaders came out to disown the ceasefire.