The Nigerian Army top echelon, at the Army Headquarters, in Abuja, were in shock on Thursday, December, 29, as the elusive Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, who has been described as a proverbial cat with nine lives, showed up in a latest video, barely 72 hours after the downfall of Sambisa forest.
Recall, that President Muhammadu Buhari, had on Christmas Eve, said that the extremist group had been defeated, and driven away from the forest, and camp Zero taken over by the military.
In his message specifically directed to Buhari, Shekau in the 25 minutes video, flanked by masked armed fighters said: “We are safe. We have not been flushed out of anywhere. And tactics and strategies cannot reveal our location, except if Allah wills by his decree. You should not be telling lies to the people.’’
He asked: “If you indeed crushed us, how can you see me like this? How many times have you killed us in your bogus death?”
Recall, that Shekau last appeared in a video in September, where he disputed a claim by the Nigerian military, that he had been wounded in a battle.
He however, vowed to continue fighting on, until an Islamic state was imposed in Northern Nigeria.
“Our aim is to establish an Islamic Caliphate, and we have our own Caliphate, we are not part of Nigeria.”
The Boko Haram insurgency, has killed at least 20,000 people, and forced some 2.6 million others to flee their homes, since 2009.
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