Boko Haram factional leader Abubakar Shekau has re-emerged in a new video after a long absence that fuelled speculation about his health and ability to lead the Islamist militants.
In a 36-minute message, seen by AFP on Tuesday, Shekau wore a white robe and skull cap, and held an AK 47 rifleassault rifle as he sat in front of a military camouflage canvas.
He appeared unwell but made no direct mention of his health or reports from last month that he had high blood pressure, failing eyesight and diabetes-related complications.
The jihadist leader used to appear frequently on camera but was last seen in a 14-minute video message on February 6, in which he claimed responsibility for attacks in northeast Nigeria.
In a new video obtained by Ahmad Salkida, the Nigerian journalist with the deepest knowledge of Boko Haram’s workings, Shekau admonished his followers to “fight the infidels, kill the infidels, gun them, kill them in whichever way you can and take their souls in order to purify the land”.
According to an account of the video from Sahara reporters, the murderous stated that he decided to appear in the video after numerous requests by his followers to do so.
The latest video started with barbaric scenes of the beheading of two young males believed to be working with the security forces. The victims were dressed in ISIS-style orange attires, followed by scenes of Boko Haram members training in armed combat and martial arts.‘Use The Souls Of Infidels To Purify The Land’, Shekau Urges Followers In New Video‘Use The Souls Of Infidels To Purify The Land’, Shekau Urges Followers In New Video…
The terror group also displayed arms and ammunition, military vehicles, uniforms and other supplies it seized in previous fights.
Shekau appeared and started a long, incoherent speech about the group’s corrosive doctrine of who is a believer and who’s not, at 7:55 minutes of the 36-minutes-27-second video till the end of the video, where he urged his fighters to remain steadfast in the face of trials.
“Anything that befalls a Muslim, it is Muslims that caused it,” he said, adding thatthe loss of ground being witnessed by his group is as a consequence of the failure of members to adhere to the teachings of Islam.
“There is no way infidels will triumph over the faithful except if they have strayed in the faith,” he said.
“Dear brethren, you should recognise that this war we are waging is not new; this is a war that has been raging for a long time. Therefore, anybody that fights because of Allah alone will never witness defeat.”
He prayed to Allah to free their Muslim brothers in various prisons, asking: “How can we go to sleep, eat and drink if our Muslim brothers are being humiliated in prisons like Guantanamo, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Somali, Iraq, Sham and Yemen among other places?”
In his usual characteristics, Shekau urged his members to “fight the infidels, kill the infidels, gun them, kill them in whichever way you can and take their souls in order to purify the land”.
He is widely believed to be aged in his late 40s. The US justice department lists 1965, 1969 and 1975 as possible years of his birth
He said the latest message was recorded on July 12 at the request of his supporters “as a kind of Eid greetings… to show that their brethren are well, in view of all sorts of things infidels are saying (about us) which we have ignored”.
The end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan was celebrated in Nigeria on June 15. It was not possible to obtain independent verification of the claimed date, and there was no explanation about the apparent delay in recording or publishing the message.
In May 2017, Shekau looked frail and appeared to have difficulty reading from a prepared speech, which he held close to his face in an apparent indication of vision problems.
Two well-placed sources told AFP last month that Shekau’s health was failing and he was “too weak to be in charge” of the jihadists.
His lieutenants were said to be in talks about the situation.
Boko Haram, whose insurgency has left at least 20,000 dead since 2009, split in mid-2016 over ideological differences about the targeting of civilians in the conflict.
One faction, headed by Abu-Mus’ab Al-Barnawi, whose father Mohammed Yusuf founded Boko Haram, won the support of the Islamic State group.
The Barnawi faction has been blamed for a spate of attacks in recent days against the military northeast Nigeria.
Eight people were killed in a suicide bombing at a mosque in Borno state on Monday, in an attack that bore the hallmarks of the Shekau faction.
.Agency/ online reports
