Boko Haram Leader; Abubakar Shekau, Killed by Cameroon Military
The menace of Boko Haram took
a new twist today (September
21,2015) when the Cameroon
army in a rare show of bravado,
released the photographs of the
Boko Haram leader Abubakar
Shekau to the public, claiming he
was killed during a cross border
raid deep inside Nigeria by the
Cameroon military.
The Street Journal reliably
gathered from a Cameroon
military source late last night
that Abubakar Shekau was killed
following an aerial
bombardment of his hideout
inside Nigeria. The Cameroon
army has ever since yesterday
been in serious combat against
thousands of Boko Haram
fighters trying to enter
Cameroon via Fotokol from
Gambaral Ngala in Nigeria.
It was further gathered that the
development has put the Boko
Haram camp in disarray in
Nigeria culminating in the
devastating blow the insurgents
experienced in Konduga, near
Maiduguri on Friday. The Nigeria
Army had on Sunday (September
21, 2014) announced the capture
of a number of insurgents.
A week after soldiers stopped
the Boko Haram insurgents from
taking over Konduga, a town 35
kilometers from the Borno State
capital, Maiduguri, the military
has said five members of the
insurgent group have
surrendered in the town.
In a tweet on Sunday, the
Defence Headquarters, DHQ,
said five members of the Boko
Haram on Saturday surrendered
their weapons to soldiers
The military said the insurgents
surrendered because they could
not endure the massive
onslaught by troops. It said the
insurgents also pleaded for
mercy.
The DHQ also said other
captured insurgents are giving
useful information on the
group’s subsequent attack plans.
Several battles between the
military and the Boko Haram in
the past week in different Borno
towns have left scores of people
dead.
The latest of such occurred on
Friday in Mainok, a village about
56 kilometres from Maiduguri.
The insurgents had attacked the
village on Friday afternoon
killing about 20 people.
A senior security official in
Maiduguri, on condition of
anonymity, said at least 48
insurgents were killed by
soldiers who chased them while
the former returned to their
base in Damboa Town.
The official blamed poor service
by telecom networks for the late
arrival of soldiers to prevent the
Mainok attack.
“Due to the poor telecom
network around Mainok town,
troops (from 7 Division in
Maiduguri) could not get the
alert on time, until they (Boko
Haram) had attacked and killed
some of the traders – about 20
or so – and even stole money
and food items from the poor
traders”, the official told us.
“But as soon as the message got
to us, troops arrived Mainok and
tracked them towards the
direction and were able to
intercept them as they were
taking some rest or attending to
a broken down vehicle.
“It was another tough battle but
within hours, our gallant soldiers
subdued them, as we counted 48
corpses and recovered several
weapons and vehicle abandoned
by some few others who fled.”
The handling of the Boko Haram
menace had put to question the
capability of the Nigeria military
to contain insurgency in the
country, leading to a big blow on
the armed forces’ integrity. A top
government official who spoke
with The Street Journal on
condition of anonymity said the
alleged killing of Shekau by the
Cameroon military would further
erode whatever remains of the
integrity of the Nigeria Army.
He noted with dismay the
menace of Boko Haram had
caused Nigeria, particularly, in
the North Eastern region of the
country thousands of lives with
properties worth billions of naira
destroyed while the military had
exhibited helplessness in the
fight against the insurgents.
The Goodluck Jonathan
administration had requested for
an approval of a foreign loan of
$1 billion from the National
Assembly for the procurement
of arms and ammunition for the
military to combat the
insurgents.