Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau has debunked claims by the
Nigerian Military that he was dead. In a new video released by AFP today,
Thursday, the leader of the Islamic sect said:
“Here I am, alive. I will only die the day Allah takes my
breath,” Shekau said in the 36-minute video, adding that his group was “running
our… Islamic caliphate” and administering sharia punishments.
Recall that the military announced last week that they had
killed the man in a raid that also led to the death of several other members of
the group. However, a lot of groups and individuals were quick to debunk the
claim by the military.
The new 36-minute video showed Shekau, in combat fatigues and
black rubber boots, standing on the back of a pick-up truck and firing an
anti-aircraft gun into the air.
Standing in front of three camouflaged vans and flanked by
four heavily armed, masked fighters, he then speaks for 16 minutes in Arabic
and the Hausa language widely spoken in northern Nigeria.
There was no indication of where or when the video was shot.
The heavily bearded Shekau, who appeared to be the same as
those in previous clips, said the military’s claim that he was dead was
propaganda.
“Nothing will kill me until my days are over… I’m still
alive. Some people asked you if Shekau has two souls. No, I have one soul, by
Allah,” he said, apparently reading from a script.
“It is propaganda that is prevalent. I have one soul. I’m an
Islamic student.
“I’m the Islamic student whose seminary you burnt… I’m not
dead,” he added, apparently referring to the destruction of the group’s mosque
in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, in 2009.
Elsewhere in the new video, Shekau said the sect had
implemented strict Islamic law in the towns that it had captured in recent
weeks.
“We are running our caliphate, our Islamic caliphate. We
follow the Koran… We now practise the injunctions of the Koran in the land of
Allah,” he said.
The group also claimed to have shot down a Nigerian air force
jet that went missing nearly three weeks ago.
An air force spokesman said the jet was missing.
“For any group to claim they shot it down is mere propaganda
and rubbish,” Air Commodore Dele Alonge told AFP
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