Shekau Flees Nigeria

■ Military deploys special forces to
track fleeing Boko Haram leader
■ Drops Thuraya phone line to block
traces
■ We’ll hunt him down – Army
As the military deploys its special force units
to track the fleeing leader of the Boko Haram
sect, Abubakar Shekau, there are strong indi­
cations that the terror kingpin may have fled
Nigeria through the help of Islamic State
(ISIS) groups operating in East and North
Africa.
Saturday Sun gathered that with the recent
loss of his group’s caliphate headquarters,
Gwoza to the Nigerian troops and the
invasion of Sambisa forest by a detachment
of the nation’s special force units deployed
from their base in Makurdi, Benue State, the
Boko Haram leader saw his capture as
imminent.
According to dependable military intelli­
gence sources, Shekau had to send
emissaries to ISIS affiliates with strongholds
in East and North Africa to pave the way for
his escape to their region from where he
intends to coordinate his group’s activities
or ultimately relocate to ISIS headquarters in
the Middle East.
One of the sources revealed that “having
discovered that he was being tracked
through his Thuraya satellite phone, Shekau
recently dropped the line and handset totally
to evade capture. But the last satellite image
of him and other intelligence pieced together
by forces on the battle frontline show his
desperation to escape from the country to
parts of East Africa or North Africa where
ISIS is having some footholds.”
The source, a red neck military chief further
told Saturday Sun that “as part of moves
being made by Shekau, he now relocates
with fewer guards and limited number of
lieutenants knowing his movement
schedule. This is to frustrate intelligence
gathering efforts by security forces and
avoid attracting the focus of satellite image
capturing technology deployed by some
foreign super powers and shared with the
Nigerian security forces.”
It was gathered that as part of his bid to es­
cape the heat of ongoing military operations
in the Northeast Nigeria, Shekau has in the
last few weeks changed his look and
physical appearance dramatically. “A recent
intelligence from one of our foreign partners
shows the Boko Haram leader clean shaven
which totally alters his look. That heightens
our curiosity about his motive, before we
got other evidence that pointed to the fact
that he was trying to cross the border”, the
source added.
The militant group had on March 7 pledged
allegiance to the leadership of ISIS in Iraq
and Syria. The pledge, which was made by
Shekau, who addressed himself as the
Imam of Jamaátu Ahlus Sunnah Lidda’awati
Wal Jihad (Boko Haram) and was addressed
to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi al-Husseini al-
Qurashi, the leader of the Islamic State of
Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or Islamic State of
Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
“From your brother in Allah, Abu Mohamed
Abu Bakr bin Mohammed Shekau, the
Imam of Jamaátu Ahlus Sunnah Lidda
Awaati Wal Jihad to the Caliph of Muslims
Abubakar Abu Bakr Ibrahim ibn Awad ibn
Ibrahim al-Husseini al-Qurashi.
“We are sending you this message,
following what Allah said in his Quran (And
hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of
Allah and be not divided among yourselves)
and what the Prophet, Peace be upon him
said (Whoever died and he had not Imam,
died by death of ignorance).
“In submission to the order of Allah “Azza
wa Jal”, and submission to the order of the
prophet, peace be upon him to not separate
from each other and to stay united as
Ummah as Jammaaáh, We announce our
allegiance to the Caliph of the Muslims
Ibrahim ibn Awad ibn Ibrahim al-Husseini
al-Qurashi and will hear and obey in times
of difficulty and prosperity, in hardship and
ease, and to endure being discriminated
against and not to dispute about rule with
those in power, except in case of evident
infidelity,” read an English-language
translation of the video broadcast in Arabic.
ISIS has a few foreign groups from which it
has accepted pledges, including Ansar Bayt
al-Maqdisi in the Egyptian Sinai and groups
of fighters in strategic areas of Libya. ISIS
has a shura council that dictates the group’s
strategic direction but takes a devolved,
hands-off approach on tactical matters.
A week after the pledge of allegiance by
Boko Haram, ISIS leadership in a statement
accepted the militant group into its fold,
with a promise to work with it to establish
an ISIS cell in West Africa. In an audio
message, a man who claimed to be the
spokesperson for the Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria, ISIS, said the group’s aim of
establishing a caliphate has now been
expanded to West Africa.
As earlier exclusively by Saturday Sun,
Shekau had stayed in crisis-ridden Northern
Mali to coordinate the training and opera­
tions of the militant group before they were
flushed out of there by a joint French and Af­
rican forces, including Nigerian troops. He
thereafter crossed the porous borders to
join his foot soldiers in Borno State.
“He may not find it easy to return to Mali
this time round but we suspect he may be
targeting East Africa or parts of North Africa
such as Libya and Egypt where some
islamist groups are causing instability now”,
a senior military chief involved in the
prosecution of the war against the militant
group told Saturday Sun, adding that he
cannot categorically say whether Shekau
had indeed escaped or still in the country.
“On whether he has successfully escaped
from Nigeria, I have no such information
but at the same time I cannot rule that out
because of his level of desperation to flee
and his links with some other groups within
the region and even beyond”, the source
stressed, adding: “What we strongly believe
at this moment is that he is still within our
reach or that of our neighbours; especially
Niger and Chad. He may find it difficult to
move beyond these borders and may end
up returning to one of our remote villages
in the North-East to hide.”
The source also stated that Shekau had told
some of his close lieutenants that he would
rather die from gunshot from his guards
than being killed by the Nigerian troops
whom he regards as “infidels.”
“One of his captured commanders once
disclosed that Shekau had given instructions
to his personal guards to shoot him dead in
the face of a confrontation with our troops
who he calls infidels. He believes that makes
him a martyr”, the source added.
When contacted on the information that
Shekau had fled the country between the
last week of March and the first two weeks
of April, the acting Director of Public Rela­
tions, Nigeria Army, Colonel Sani Usman
said, “We have an ongoing war against ter­
rorists in this country and we are
determined by all means and what it takes
to eliminate, capture all terrorists and
destroy all their known camps.
“If in the process, any of their leaders is
captured, so be it because the whole war is
not about an individual. We are also deter­
mined to arrest all of them dead or alive.”