Categories: News

Boko Haram Leader Abubaker Shekau: ‘I Am Alive’

In a seemingly endless waffling of events, supposedly slain Boko Haram leader Abubaker Shekau (pictured) has made yet another appearance, shooting down claims that he is dead and has been “replaced” by reported new leader Mahamat Daoud, according to the BBC.

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Last week, Chadian President Idriss Deby announced that Daoud had become the new head of Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram.

As Face2Face Africa previously reported:

Nefarious Boko Haram leader Abubaker Shekau hasn’t been heard from since his last audio recording in March, when he publicly pledged Boko Haram’s allegiance to the Islamic State (IS).

It is now thought that he is dead.

…

According to President Deby, Mahamat Daoud is the new replacement for Shekau, and he is reportedly willing to negotiate the girls’ release.

However, yet another audio message has reportedly cropped up, with Shekau rejecting claims that he is no longer in power.

The BBC reports:

In the message, addressed to the leader of the Islamic State militant group to whom Boko Haram has pledged allegiance, Mr. Shekau said he was still in command.

He had not featured in the group’s recent videos, prompting speculation he had been killed or incapacitated.

On the 8-minute recording, Shekau reportedly calls recent reports about Boko Haram’s change in leadership “blatant lies,” ultimately declaring, “I am alive. I will only die when the time appointed by Allah comes.”

Adding to the timeliness of the recording, Shekau — as he has done in the past — mocked Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari‘s deadline to military chiefs that they destroy the militant organization in three months.

Last July, Shekau mocked the energetic #BringBackOurGirls movement in a video, after he made headlines by admitting that his group is maintaining close ties with al-Qaeda leaders.

At the time, he infamously said, “Nigerians are saying #BringBackOurGirls, and we are telling [then-President Goodluck] Jonathan to bring back our arrested warriors, our army.”

As Face2Face Africa previously reported, Shekau has been erroneously pronounced dead before:

…There has been much confusion over Shekau’s real identity. Last September, for example, Nigerian military general Chris Olukolade declared that Mohammed Bashir, the man who purportedly posed as Shekau in videos, was killed.

But that declaration was soon turned on its head when Shekau appeared alive just a few weeks later.

Abena Agyeman-Fisher

Abena Agyeman-Fisher is the Editor-in-Chief of Face2Face Africa. Most recently, she worked for Interactive One as the Senior Editor of NewsOne, she worked for AOL as the News Programming Manager of Black Voices, which later became HuffPo Black Voices, and for the New York Times Company as an Associate Health Editor. Abena, a Spelman College graduate, has been published in Al Jazeera, the Daily Beast, New Jersey’s The Star-Ledger, the Grio, BlackVoices, West Orange Patch, About.com, the Source, Vibe, Vibe Vixen, Jane, and Upscale Magazines. She has interviewed top celebrities, icons, and politicians, such as First Lady Michelle Obama, Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett, Civil Rights activist and diplomat Andrew Young, comedian Bill Cosby, Grammy Award-winning singer Jill Scott, actress and singer Queen Latifah, Olympic Gold winner Cullen Jones, international supermodel Alek Wek, and five-division world champion boxer Floyd Mayweather. Most recently, she served as the First Lady’s press reporter during President Barack Obama’s U.S.-Africa Summit, Young African Leaders Institute event, and the 2013 presidential trip to Senegal, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Tanzania. Abena is also a 2015 International Women's Media Foundation Africa Great Lakes Fellow, where she reported on women candidates and Chinese sweatshops in Tanzania for CNN and Refinery29.