SHEKAU IS STILL ON THE LOOSE - NIGERIA ARMY

Few months ago, there were speculations that Boko Haram leader, Sheik Abubaka Shekau had been killed by the Army but contrary to this, the Defence Headquarters has said it has not ended its effort to capture, dead or alive, a dreaded leader of Boko Haram Islamic sect. The Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen Chris Olukolade, on Friday.

The Army spoke just as the the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwhistle, expressed doubts over the death of the terrorist. Entwhistle had said he was not aware of Shekau’s death while speaking with journalists in Lagos on Thursday. The US envoy was quoted as also saying it would be difficult to track down the Boko Haram leader.

He reportedly said, “The bounty on Shekau;  the reward for justice is a useful tool we use to fight terror around the world sometimes. “I’m not aware Shekau is dead. It is very difficult to track him and figure out where he is, but, to my knowledge, he is still alive. Again, it is very difficult to know.”

Reacting to the uncertainty,  Olukolade,  said the military had not ended its search for Shekau and other terrorists.

He said, “The issue is about terrorism as a whole; anyone facilitating terrorism is our target. Every terrorist and those facilitating them are wanted. Whether they are calling him Shekau or whatever, for as long as any one is alive and is involved in facilitating terrorism, the person is wanted until he gives up.

“Everyone perpetrating or facilitating terror is a wanted person.”

Uncertainty has lingered over the purported killing of Shekau, six months after the announcement of his death by the authorities of the disbanded Joint Task Force in Borno State. The then spokesman of the JTF in Borno State, Lt. Col Sagir Musa, had issued a statement in August, 2013, in which he claimed that Shekau might have been killed as a result of injuries he sustained during an encounter with special forces on June, 2013.

He  had  said, “Intelligence report available to the JTF revealed that Abubakar Shekau, the most dreaded and wanted Boko Haram terrorist leader may have died.’’ It was learnt that the former Chief of Army Staff, Ihejirika, told his successor, Maj. Gen kenneth Minimah, while handing over to him, that he had doubts over Shekau  being alive.

“The former Chief of Army Staff, Ihejirika, still talked about the issue of Shekau’s death; he said he had doubts if Shekau was still alive,” the army source said.

The US State Department which designated Shekau an international terrorist under Executive Order 13224, in June, 2012, placed a bounty of  $7 million on the Boko Haram leader a year after on June 3, 2013. The US also placed similar ransom adding up to $23 million on other high profile terror suspects in West Africa.

Before then, the Federal Government had placed a bounty of  N50m  on Shekau  on November 23, 2012.