Boko Haram Leader Shekau Not Deposed – Military Sources

Military sources have waved off reports on the Sheikh Abubakar Shekau had been shot and deposed as leader of Islamist sect group, Boko Haram.

According to the sources, the intention of the false report is to mislead both the government and members of the public.

“It is not true,” a senior army officer said about the report.

Also on Wednesday, the defence headquarters disclosed that the joint intelligence sharing and military cooperation between the Nigeria and Niger Republic has helped to foil the plan by some Boko Haram insurgents that escaped the onslaught by the troops of the Joint Task Force (JTF), to regroup for counter-offensive.

Meanwhile, Chairman, Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution on Security Challenges in the North (Amnesty Committee) and the minister of special duties, Alhaji Tanimu Turaki, SAN, has refused to speak on the purported overthrow of the Boko Haram boss.

Turaki who recently announced a ceasefire deal with the sect had maintained that the Amnesty Committee is negotiating with “authentic” Boko Haram.

Shekau had released a video to dismiss the reports of a ceasefire deal, but Turaki had said the committee negotiated the deal with Shekau’s deputy Sheikh Abdulazeez.

Shekau had in the video released after the announcement of the ceasefire agreement, disowned Sheikh Abdulazeez.

He said: “We are stating it categorically that we are not in any dialogue or ceasefire agreement with anyone. And we have never asked anybody in the name Abdulazeez to represent me, Abubakar Shekau, the leader of this movement.

“I swear by Allah that Abdulazeez or whatever he calls himself did not get any authority from me to represent me in any capacity. I do not know him. And if we per adventure encounter Abulazeez and his group, I swear by Allah we are going to mete them with the grave judgment that Allah has prescribed for their likes in the holy book.”