There were indications last night that the latest video purportedly released last week by the leader of the Boko Haram sect, Abubakar Shekau, might not have emanated from the Boko Haram leader after all. A source, who pleaded anonymity, told Vanguard that the video, in which Shekau was said to have said that the end of the sect’s campaign was near, was shot about two years ago.
The source said the video was actually given out by Shekau to a delegation sent by a top Islamic sect leader, Darun Sijjirah, when he pledged allegiance to the Boko Haram leader. According to the source, it was not possible for Shekau, leaders of the Islamic State for Africa to have released such a document at this moment.
“The video is a fake one intended for ulterior purposes and does not emanate from Shekau,” the source said. Responding to a question, the source also disputed the claim by a female suicide bomber arrested by the Cameroonian authorities that she was one of the Chibok girls taken by the Boko Haram sect since April 14, 2014.
“The truth is that the female suicide bomber arrested in Cameroun is not one of the Chibok girls,” the man said. Vanguard learned that the release of the video, which the Nigerian military had since dismissed as a possible diversionary tactics by the sect, was causing disquiet in the camps of the sect leaders.
This, coupled with the claim by the female suicide bomber arrested in Cameroun, is believed to have compelled the leadership of the sect to contemplate releasing a statement disputing the two issues and to ‘put the records straight’.
It was learned that the group close to Shekau might issue a disclaimer on the two issues within the week, given the erroneous impression and the controversy they had generated within its camps.
Boko Haram has killed over 13,000 persons and abducted many men, women and children in its six-year-old campaign against the Nigerian state, which is seeking to end the activities of the group. Nigeria has also dispatched a group to Cameroun to ascertain if, indeed, the female suicide bomber in its custody belongs to the missing Chibok girls.
