By Chibisi Ohakah, ABUJA
Although it has been confirmed that the notorious leader of the Boko Haram, killer-sect,
Abubakar Shekau is dead, memories of the blood thirsty, radical Muslim and his activities will live with Nigerians and indeed the world for a very long time to come. Yet despite his popularity and the large scale killings that he perpetrated with his group, not many can talk about the man Abubakar Shekau.
Although the Nigerian authorities; both the Army and the executive administration, have refused to comment of the news of Shekau’s death, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) confirmed midweek in a report that it “had seen a video in which the militants confirm their commander is dead.” In the three-minute clip, the international news agency said a man dressed in white clothes with a black turban urged his faction’s followers to remain loyal to the group despite the loss of their commander.
The man who reportedly spoke is said to be one of the Boko Haram commanders, Bakura Modu, believed now to be the new leader of the group.
Persons who know Shekau closely described him as a ruthless, fearless loner, and yet a complex, paradoxical person – part-theologian and part-gangster. Fondly called imam or leader by his followers, Abubakar Muhammad Shekau was born in Shekau village in Nigeria’s north-eastern state of Yobe. “He had a photographic memory and was well-versed in theology,” said Salkida Ahmed, a journalist who knew the Boko Haram leadership closely
His followers nicknamed him “Darul Tawheed”, which translates as a specialist in Tawheed – an orthodox doctrine of the uniqueness and oneness of Allah, which is the very cornerstone of Islam. Shekau was fluent in his native Kanuri language, as well as Hausa and Arabic. He also added English sentences in the tapes his group released to journalists from time to time.
Some said he was in his late 30s, others believed he was in his mid-40s – an uncertainty which added to the myths surrounding him. He took over leadership of Boko Haram after its founder, Muhammad Yusuf, died in police custody in July 2009, and hundreds of others were killed during a massive crackdown, of which many blame for making the group even more violent. Shortly after he took over, he married of Yusuf’s wives and adopted his children
Shekau was said to have been introduced to his predecessor in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, by a mutual friend, Mamman Nur, who himself was later wanted for masterminding the infamous Nyanya bomb attacks near Abuja. Shekau, Nur and Yusuf were said to be radical Islamic theologians who operated on the fringe. Sakida, the journalist who knew them, who would later run risks with his life, described Shekau as the quietest, yet the most radical and ruthless.
Ahmed was believed to have good access to the Boko Haram leadership. For coming up with insider stories from the group, which were published by the media, government thought of Ahmed, at some point, to be a member of the group. The situation became bad for the journalist such that he reportedly relocated to the UAE, from where he still provided information from the group. “He hardly talked, he was fearless,” said Salkida, while describing Shekau. “He is one of those who believed that you can sacrifice anything for your belief.”
The late Boko Haram leader reportedly did not communicate directly with the group’s foot soldiers – he was said to wield his power through a few select cell leaders, but even then contact was minimal. “A lot of those calling themselves leaders in the group did not even have contact with him,” Salkida said about the group.
Shekau had neither the charismatic streak nor the oratorical skills of his predecessor – but he was reputed with an intense ideological commitment and ruthlessness. He issued a message in one of his video appearances which provided a major insight into his character. “I enjoy killing anyone that God commands me to kill – the way I enjoy killing chickens and rams,” he said in the video clip released just after Boko Haram had carried out one of its deadliest attacks, in January 2012, killing more than 180 people in Kano.
On 14 April 2014 at about 6:45am, two bombs exploded at a crowded bus station in Nyanya, Nasarawa, killing at least 88 people and injuring about 200. Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the bombing six days after it occurred. It occurred hours before the Chibok kidnapping. Explosives hidden inside vehicles detonated during the usual morning rush hour in a bus station located in Nyanya just on the outskirts of Abuja. After the initial blast, further explosions occurred as fuel tanks in nearby vehicles ignited.
Abbas Idris, head of the Abuja Emergency Relief Agency at the time, confirmed that 71 people were killed while 124 got injured. Manzo Ezekiel, spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency at the time, confirmed the numbers adding that that numerous injured victims were undergoing treatment in the hospital. By April 15, the death toll had increased to 75, as investigators continued to sift through the wreckage at the blast site. By April 18, the death toll had increased to 88, with more than 200 reported injured.
The Boko Haram leader had claimed responsibility for the bombing six days after it occurred, via a video released on 19 April. It will be recalled that one Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche was arrested by Interpol in Sudan in May 2014 on the suspicion of being one of the masterminds behind the bombings. But not much came out of the orchestrated parade and prosecution of Ogwuche. Nigerians don’t seem to have the last word on the trial of Ogwuche and others arrested during the time.
The International Crises Group said in a report that Shekau and Nur carried on after the founder’s death in 2009, but somewhere along the line, Nur and other senior commanders became critical of Shekau’s leadership. In 2016, Nur split from mainstream Boko Haram. The ideological gap between both men had widened. They disagreed on operational and ideological reasons.
The Nur faction which also had Abu Musab al-Barnawi, a son of Mohammed Yusuf, as a key figure, allied itself with the Islamic State group and took the name Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP). ISWAP accused Shekau of many crimes, including violating Islamic doctrine and in June 2018 called the Boko Haram leader a “tumour” to be removed. However, Nur was killed in August 2018 by allies in ISWAP who disagreed on his “softer” ideological views.
It was Shekau who masterminded the kidnapping of over 300 schoolgirls from Chibok, a town in Borno state in 2014, and many more school girls whose records are not known. He also masterminded the, mostly forceful, recruitment of over 3000 fighters from the states of Borno, Bauchi, Adamawa etc into the Boko Haram rag tag army of killers.
The man’s mass kidnapping of the famous Chibok girls from their boarding school brought him global infamy. It has been said that what became of the Boko Haram under Shekau’s leadership was more of the reflection of who he was than the principles of the founder. The group was turned into a ruthless force that terrorized people in almost of Northern Nigeria and beyond.
A global campaign under the slogan Bring Back Our Girls was launched from Nigeria thereafter, supported by world women activists including Michelle Obama, wife of former President of the United States of America, Barak Obama. The campaign truly brought the tragedy of the abduction to global light and at the same time the personality of Shekau. The US government had offered a reward of up to $7m (£4.6m) for information about his location, but his whereabouts were never discovered.
A chilling video clip of him laughing derisively about his invincibility was regular in the internet; he was either issuing threats or deadlines to the Nigerian federal government, or boasting and thanking his ‘Allah’ for a successful expedition where he had slaughtered and maimed innocent persons. Many times during Boko Haram attacks, Shekau rewarded himself with captives of various young ages, which are later groomed and converted to armed fighters of the group. He also took women and girls who he made sex slaves
After the successful kidnapping of the Chibok girls, he came on screen to boast about how he would mindlessly sell or marry off the girls. He was reported to have insisted that the Christians among the girls must forcefully convert to Islam, and publicly executed any dissident. In the many times the Nigerian military came up with the news that they had killed Shekau in a raid, he would conduct a broadcast dispelling the rumour, and once again brag about his invincibility.
He was reported to have been killed by the Nigerian army in 2009 – only for him to reappear in videos posted on the internet less than a year later presenting him as Boko Haram’s leader. Similar subsequent claims of his death also turned out to be false.
Although most of the Chibok school girls had been freed, some of them are still in the hands of the Boko Haram operatives. Hands and relatives of the incarcerated girls, and indeed the North East region of Nigeria, the activities of the man Shekau’s will be felt long after his death.
It must be pointed that as multiple as the Islamic faith is, so was the reactions of Nigerian mainstream Muslim clerics on the activities of Boko Haram. Despite what was said about his scholarly with Islam, many of the clerics did not regard Shekau as a scholar and questioned his understanding of Islam.
They regularly condemned the bombings and drive-by shootings committed by his followers against anyone who disagreed with them, including many Muslims. Will the death of Shekau bring to an end Boko Haram’s reign of terror in Nigeria? That is the big question on the lips of analysts given that there have been pockets of clashes, mostly between splinter groups in the notorious Sambisa Forest.
An observer said that currently, Boko Haram is not the force it once was but it is still able to carry out attacks and has not been snuffed out by the Nigerian military, despite an extensive campaign that has taken billions of dollars from the Nigerian treasury, with the monumental loss of lives of military personnel.