Boko Haram Leader, Shekau Re-Equipping In A Distant Country

Few days ago, the media was awash with reports of the military’ failed attempt to capture Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau. Shekau was said to have been cornered by operatives of the Joint Task Force in Gwoza hills, Borno State, where a shoot out occurred between the operatives and members of the sect, resulting to the death of some of the insurgents and members of the Special Forces group.


In the battle that ensued between the sect and operatives of the Joint Task Force, JTF, one of the country’s best Special Forces officer, Major A.T. Fambiya, who had volunteered to lead the operation was killed when the operation ran into a hitch.

Information available however reveals that the operation at the Gwoza hills may have been based on faulty intelligence, as there are no hints that Shekau was amongst those present at the hill.

New information from the theater of activity suggests Shekau relocated to a ‘distant country’ long before the placement of bounty on his capture by the United States of America.  Although the exact country is not certain but Northern Sudan or Senegal is suspected.

Current efforts by the federal government against the continued growth of the jihadist group seem ineffective. Although the federal government’s efforts appeared well articulated and properly executed, it nonetheless delivered limited success in pragmatic terms. To date, monies in excess of two trillion Naira has been expended towards battling the Boko Haram – an amount larger than the amount expended in the three years of Nigerian invasion of Biafra.

The state of emergency declaration at the three problematic states – Adamawa, Borno and Yobe – according to information received – was preceded by a systematic evacuation of Boko Haram operatives out of the three sensitive states – out to areas considered safe – and conducive to strategize and to reequip.

“They are silently regrouping” a source out of Maiduguri who gave her name as ‘Hawa’ told our correspondent – that Boko Haram had prior intelligence of the declaration of state of emergency before it was communicated through the ranks of the military. The high level officers of the Jihadist group “left town” before the arrival of the heavy machinery of the Nigerian military.  “They moved first to a community near Madaras before heading out through the mountains” said Hawa who went on to claim that some within the military knew of the movement of the Jihadist group. It is noted however that Hawa’s claim has yet to be unverified.

But what appears certain is that there appears a lull in the violent activities of the group. Of which some have attributed to the corrective actions of the Nigerian military while other point to a more sinister reason for the lull. They claim the Jihadist group is merely re-organizing to strike – as the mechanizations towards the 2015 presidential elections – which have been tagged by the group as a contest and/or battle between the Islamic north and the rest of the country.

New intelligence reports indicate military and intelligence support for group to be coming from former military personnel of the assassinated head of state of Libya, Gadaffi – who had fled Libya to the northern mountainous regions of Mali. The Iran funded Jihadist group, the Hezbollah, along without other well-funded international Jihadist groups are believed to be involved in the “reequipping of Boko Haram“.

It is feared the group may exploit the widening political [or cultural] divide – as the temperature of the presidential election campaign rises across the expected divide - through orchestration of strikes at choice targets – such as assassinations of top level political personalities in the north. According to intelligence reports, the Kaduna model – where the death of the Christian Governor resulted to the seize in violent Jihadist activities -may be the model adopted by the group for the 2015 elections. In addition, the group is believed to be undergoing the developmental stages of setting a plan to disrupt electioneering exercise in the entire northern Nigeria – including the north east and north central.