New Boko Haram leader wants talks with FG

YUSUF DANLADI
Chadian President, Idriss Deby, has said that Abubakar Shekau has been replaced by Mahamat Daoud as head of the dreaded Islamist militant group, Boko Haram, fuelling speculations that Abubakar Shekau may indeed be dead.

Deby, who made this known in a broadcast in N’Djamena, yesterday on the 55th anniversary of Chad’s independence from France, did not say what had happened to Shekau, but disclosed that the new face of Boko Haram was Mahamat Daoud and that he was open to talks.

“There is someone apparently called Mahamat Daoud who is said to have replaced Abubakar Shekau and he wants to negotiate with the Nigerian government.

“For my part, I would advise not to negotiate with a terrorist,” Deby, whose country has been spearheading the regional fight back against Boko Haram, said.

Deby declared that efforts to combat the jihadists had succeeded in decapitating the group and would be wrapped up by the end of the year.

“Boko Haram is decapitated. There are little groups (of Boko Haram members) scattered throughout east Nigeria, on the border with Cameroon. It is within our power to definitively overcome Boko Haram.

“The war will be short, with the setting up of the regional force, it will be over by the end of the year,” Deby added, referring to a new five-country force aimed at ending Boko Haram’s bloody six-year Islamist insurgency that he said would be operational in a few days.

Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria have all pledged troops towards the new force.

While claiming progress in the fight against the jihadists, who have repeatedly hit border areas of Cameroon, Chad and Niger, and wrought havoc in northeast Nigeria, Deby admitted that suicide bombers still posed a threat.

In the past few weeks, suicide bombers, many of them women, have staged several attacks in Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad.

The challenge, Deby said, was to avoid terrorist acts “and that’s why we must organise at the regional level to prevent bomb-making materials and other explosives entering our countries”.

Shekau has been missing in the group’s videos in the last five months, lending force to the belief that he has been killed.

The issue of Shekau’s death had brought embarrassment to the military as the unrepentant terrorist group refuted the reports of his demise on three separate occasions that the security forces claimed to have silenced him.

In a video released in October, Shekau allegedly taunted the military saying he has “one soul.

“Here I am, alive. I will only die the day Allah takes my breath. I am running our… Islamic caliphate and administering sharia punishments,” he had said.

“Nothing will kill me until my days are over. I’m still alive. Some people ask if Shekau has two souls. No, I have one soul, by Allah.

“It is propaganda that is prevalent. I have one soul. I’m an Islamic student. I’m the Islamic student whose seminary you burnt. I’m not dead.”

Shekau took control of the group after its founder, Muhammad Yusuf, died in police custody in July 2009.

Under his leadership the group became more radical and carried out more killings.

Shekau was last heard of in March when he announced Boko Haram’s alliance to the Islamic State (IS).

Ahmad Sakilda, a Nigerian journalist, known to have access to commanders of the sect, had predicted that Shekau could be replaced as a result of the IS deal. Efforts to get Salkida who reportedly lives in exile in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to verify if he was indeed aware of Shekau’s present state were unsuccessful as at press time.