You must capture Shekau dead or alive within 40 days, Army Chief orders men

The Chief of Army Staff, Nigerian Army, Lieutenant General Tukur
Yusufu Buratai, has directed the Theatre Commander, Operation
Lafiya Dole, Major General Ibrahim Attahiru, to capture Abubakar
Shekau, the self-acclaimed leader of the Boko Haram terrorist
group, dead or alive.

The Theatre Commander has been directed to do so within 40
days.

This was made known in a statement by the Brigadier General Sani
Kukasheka Usman, Director Army Public Relations.

The statement further urged the public to assist in providing
information that would lead to the accomplishment of the task.

Severally, the military had claimed that the Boko Haran leader
had been killed, after which a man claiming to be him would
reappear in a video in which he dismisses claims that himself as
well as his members were killed.

In 2014, the military claimed that one Mohammed Bashir, who had
been acting or posing in videos as the deceased Abubakar Shekau,
was killed in a counter-terrorism operation in the north-east.

On March 17, Shekau reportedly reappeared in a new video in
which he dismissed claims of his death.

In a 27-minute video in which he spoke in Hausa and Kanuri, he
described the claim as a lie, insisting that his so-called
caliphate was ‘running smoothly’.

He also criticised countries in the Lake Chad area fighting the
group under the Multinational Joint Task Force.

Specifically, he singled out Cameroon which reportedly announced
that its soldiers killed about 60 Boko Haram fighters and arrested
scores of others while freeing about 5000 hostages.

Shekau described the news as all false and claimed
responsibility for the suicide bombings recorded in Northeast
Nigeria at the time.

Eventually, on March 28, the Federal Government admitted that
the leader of the Boko Haram sect, was not dead but alive and
hiding somewhere in the Sambisa forest.

The Minister Of Defence, Mr Mansur Dan-Ali, addressing
journalists explained that it had been difficult to arrest the sect
leader because the insurgents normally wear masks to conceal their
identities and divert attention.

Mr Dan-Ali, however, said the military had then taken over the
Sambisa forest and would soon capture the leader of the sect.

The Chief of Army Staff, Nigerian Army, Lieutenant General Tukur
Yusufu Buratai, has directed the Theatre Commander, Operation
Lafiya Dole, Major General Ibrahim Attahiru, to capture Abubakar
Shekau, the self-acclaimed leader of the Boko Haram terrorist
group, dead or alive.

The Theatre Commander has been directed to do so within 40
days.

This was made known in a statement by the Brigadier General Sani
Kukasheka Usman, Director Army Public Relations.

The statement further urged the public to assist in providing
information that would lead to the accomplishment of the task.

Severally, the military had claimed that the Boko Haran leader
had been killed, after which a man claiming to be him would
reappear in a video in which he dismisses claims that himself as
well as his members were killed.

In 2014, the military claimed that one Mohammed Bashir, who had
been acting or posing in videos as the deceased Abubakar Shekau,
was killed in a counter-terrorism operation in the north-east.

On March 17, Shekau reportedly reappeared in a new video in
which he dismissed claims of his death.

In a 27-minute video in which he spoke in Hausa and Kanuri, he
described the claim as a lie, insisting that his so-called
caliphate was ‘running smoothly’.

He also criticised countries in the Lake Chad area fighting the
group under the Multinational Joint Task Force.

Specifically, he singled out Cameroon which reportedly announced
that its soldiers killed about 60 Boko Haram fighters and arrested
scores of others while freeing about 5000 hostages.

Shekau described the news as all false and claimed
responsibility for the suicide bombings recorded in Northeast
Nigeria at the time.

Eventually, on March 28, the Federal Government admitted that
the leader of the Boko Haram sect, was not dead but alive and
hiding somewhere in the Sambisa forest.

The Minister Of Defence, Mr Mansur Dan-Ali, addressing
journalists explained that it had been difficult to arrest the sect
leader because the insurgents normally wear masks to conceal their
identities and divert attention.

Mr Dan-Ali, however, said the military had then taken over the
Sambisa forest and would soon capture the leader of the sect.