Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, yesterday told the military to bury itself in shame because he is ‘alive’, even as he vowed to continue attacks and not to allow democracy thrive in the country.
In an online video by the Islamist militant group, Shekau, who said the world “should know that he could not die except by the will of Allah” claimed responsibility for the September 17 attacks in Benisheik, Borno State, in which over 160 lives were lost and hundreds of houses burnt.
The former spokesman of the Joint Task Force, JTF, in Borno State, Lt Col Sagir Musa, had issued a statement on August 19, claiming that Shekau had been killed.
“Intelligence report available to the Joint Task Force, JTF, Operation Restore Order revealed that Abubakar Shekau, the most dreaded and wanted terrorists leader may have died.
“He died of gunshots wounds received in an encounter with the JTF in one of their camps in Sambisa Forest on 30th June, 2013.
“Shekau was mortally wounded in the encounter and was sneaked into Amitchide- a border community in Cameroon for treatment from which he never recovered,” the JTF spokesman had said.
Though there was no independent confirmation of the army’s claim, Shekau who appeared in the new video in military camouflage, seated and surrounded by hooded insurgents in a jungle environment, said the military will never subdue his group.
His words: “The world should know that I cannot die except by the will of Allah. I have told you that all that I do is prescribed by the Quran.
“The essence of it is to carry out the injunctions. Don’t bother yourselves stopping me because I cannot be stopped. The war is more grievous than you think, and it will consume you.
“I swear by Allah that there will be no democracy in Nigeria. We are going to rise against it and we shall soon defeat it.
“The concept of government of the people by the people for the people cannot continue to exist. It shall soon, very soon, be replaced by government of Allah, by Allah for Allah.
“It was said that I was killed, but here I am; I deliberately refused to respond on time; but here I am talking and laughing at Nigerian authority which misled the world that I am dead.
“I believe by now, Lt. Col Sagir Musa, who issued the statement of my death, should bury his head in shame; President Jonathan should bury his head in shame; President Barrack Obama should bury his head in shame, President François Hollande should bury his head in shame.
“How shameful is it for Nigerian military for a man they called inconsequential to defeat them and seize their tankers and arms. We have celebrated our victory in Monguno, Benisheik and surrounding villages, and we shall not relent until total victory comes our way, by Allah’s will.”
