The leader of the Boko Haram sect, Abubakar Shekau (or his clone), who is said to have been killed by Nigerian (or Cameroonian) troops last month is alive.
And he wants the world to know.
A new video released through the regular channels has shown his face, and he is vocally debunking the stories of his death, and he has added that he is still in the business of making a Caliphate out of Nigeria.
The AFP says the video is 36-minutes long.
“Here I am, alive. I will only die the day Allah takes my breath,” Shekau cackled, adding that his administration was still “running…a Caliphate” and administering the punishments as prescribed by Sharia law.
There had been previous skepticism (by observers of the Northern insurgency) over the death of the man known as Shekau when it was reported last month.
In the new video, Shekau wore combat fatigues and black rubber boots, and he was standing on the back of a pickup truck, shooting into the air with his anti-aircraft gun.
It is unclear where the video was shot. He spoke for 16 minutes in two languages: Arabia and Hausa.
The heavily bearded man, who looks not unlike the previous Shekaus in older videos has rubbished the military’s claim that he had been killed, calling it propaganda.
“Nothing will kill me until my days are over… I’m still alive. Some people asked you if Shekau has two souls. No, I have one soul, by Allah,” he said, apparently reading from a script.
“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,” he added, apparently referring to the destruction of the group’s mosque in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, in 2009.
“We are running our caliphate, our Islamic caliphate. We follow the Koran… We now practice the injunctions of the Koran in the land of Allah,” he said.
The group also claimed to have shot down a Nigerian air force jet that went missing nearly three weeks ago.
An air force spokesman said the jet was missing.
“For any group to claim they shot it down is mere propaganda and rubbish,” Air Commodore Dele Alonge told AFP
