Mutiny As Boko Haram Leader Abubakar Skekau Assassinated By Sect Members, How True?
https://nigeriaafrica1.blogspot.com/2013/08/mutiny-as-boko-haram-leader-abubakar.html
Sheikh Abubakar Shekau, leader of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, has reportedly been shot and deposed by members of his own sect, Boko Haram.
A new leader, Abu Zamira Mohammed, who is the sect’s leader negotiating with the federal government has been appointed new leader by the group’s Shura Council.
The group also said that its ceasefire declaration is working, pointing out that there has not been any suicide bombing since the declaration.
It noted its condemnation of the Yobe massacre where 40 students were killed, adding that some politicians now commit murder and ascribe it to Boko Haram
On the Kano blasts last Monday, which led to the death of about 45 people, the group blamed it on federal government’s tardiness in responding to the ceasefire agreement.
A joint report published yesterday, by Dr. Stephen Davis, a conflict resolution expert and an adviser to the last three Nigerian Presidents and Phillip van Niekerk, President of Calabar Africa, a strategic advisory company focusing on Africa, and former Editor of South Africa’s Mail & Guardian newspaper, in the US based online newspaper, huffingtonpost.com, quoted one Imam Liman Ibrahim, spiritual leader of Boko Haram, as saying that the change in leadership was prelude to peace negotiations with the federal government.
A faction of Boko Haram has entered into a back-channel dialogue with the government in the search for an elusive peace to a conflict that has seen multiple suicide bombings, attacks on government buildings and churches, and has claimed thousands of lives since 2011.
The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Restoration of Peace in the North-East, Tanimu Turaki, last month announced that his committee had reached an “understanding for ceasefire” with members of the Jama’atu Ahlul Sunnah Lih Da’awa Wal Jihad, JAS, more commonly known as Boko Haram.
JAS leadership also nominated five people to enter peace discussions with the Federal Government: Abu Liman Ibrahim, Abu Zamira Mohammed, Abu Adam Maisandari, Kassim Imam Biu and Mallam Modu Damaturu. In its press statement, JAS said the ceasefire would be in effect for 60 days, and that during the period, any attacks in its name or in the name of its leader, Imam Shekau, would be bogus attacks.
Boko Haram has been in preliminary discussions with government emissaries since the organisation declared a ceasefire on June 26. Abu Zamira Mohammed told the paper that his group was still waiting for the Federal Government’s response to the ceasefire declaration. The contacts are still at an early, fragile stage, and there is no guarantee that the talks will achieve a breakthrough.
The writers said: “It has now come to light that Boko Haram’s leadership sent representatives to the capital Abuja on June 25, 2013 where they revealed to the government that Shekau was no longer their leader.”
Imam Liman Ibrahim, the spiritual leader of Boko Haram, explained that the teaching of Shekau was becoming increasingly harsh and began to depart from the Holy Qu’ran.
“It was harsh, harsh, harsh,” Imam Liman said when explaining the reasons for the change of leadership.
“The beheadings, the killings, the recent death of students … this is not the way of the Holy Qu’ran. We could tolerate it no longer.
“Imam Liman explained that Shekau was given a choice of joining the peace dialogue with the Nigerian government, forming his own sect or being killed. Several senior Boko Haram commanders including Shekau’s Chief of Security and personal bodyguard, Abdullahi Hassan, have claimed that Shekau has since been shot in the lower leg, thigh and shoulder,” the paper went on.
The report said,” Shekau’s exact fate is not known. A video clip recovered from a Boko Haram camp in the Sambisa Forest Reserve in the northeast Nigeria, raided by the military on May 16, shows Shekau limping, providing confirmation of reports he had been shot.
“However, Shekau has been noticeably absent from recent public statements and is not one of the leaders who have engaged with government emissaries. It had been presumed that Shekau chose to voluntarily leave peace discussions in the hands of Boko Haram’s leadership group,” the duo wrote.
The group also said that its ceasefire declaration is working, pointing out that there has not been any suicide bombing since the declaration.
It noted its condemnation of the Yobe massacre where 40 students were killed, adding that some politicians now commit murder and ascribe it to Boko Haram
On the Kano blasts last Monday, which led to the death of about 45 people, the group blamed it on federal government’s tardiness in responding to the ceasefire agreement.
A joint report published yesterday, by Dr. Stephen Davis, a conflict resolution expert and an adviser to the last three Nigerian Presidents and Phillip van Niekerk, President of Calabar Africa, a strategic advisory company focusing on Africa, and former Editor of South Africa’s Mail & Guardian newspaper, in the US based online newspaper, huffingtonpost.com, quoted one Imam Liman Ibrahim, spiritual leader of Boko Haram, as saying that the change in leadership was prelude to peace negotiations with the federal government.
A faction of Boko Haram has entered into a back-channel dialogue with the government in the search for an elusive peace to a conflict that has seen multiple suicide bombings, attacks on government buildings and churches, and has claimed thousands of lives since 2011.
The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Restoration of Peace in the North-East, Tanimu Turaki, last month announced that his committee had reached an “understanding for ceasefire” with members of the Jama’atu Ahlul Sunnah Lih Da’awa Wal Jihad, JAS, more commonly known as Boko Haram.
JAS leadership also nominated five people to enter peace discussions with the Federal Government: Abu Liman Ibrahim, Abu Zamira Mohammed, Abu Adam Maisandari, Kassim Imam Biu and Mallam Modu Damaturu. In its press statement, JAS said the ceasefire would be in effect for 60 days, and that during the period, any attacks in its name or in the name of its leader, Imam Shekau, would be bogus attacks.
Boko Haram has been in preliminary discussions with government emissaries since the organisation declared a ceasefire on June 26. Abu Zamira Mohammed told the paper that his group was still waiting for the Federal Government’s response to the ceasefire declaration. The contacts are still at an early, fragile stage, and there is no guarantee that the talks will achieve a breakthrough.
The writers said: “It has now come to light that Boko Haram’s leadership sent representatives to the capital Abuja on June 25, 2013 where they revealed to the government that Shekau was no longer their leader.”
Imam Liman Ibrahim, the spiritual leader of Boko Haram, explained that the teaching of Shekau was becoming increasingly harsh and began to depart from the Holy Qu’ran.
“It was harsh, harsh, harsh,” Imam Liman said when explaining the reasons for the change of leadership.
“The beheadings, the killings, the recent death of students … this is not the way of the Holy Qu’ran. We could tolerate it no longer.
“Imam Liman explained that Shekau was given a choice of joining the peace dialogue with the Nigerian government, forming his own sect or being killed. Several senior Boko Haram commanders including Shekau’s Chief of Security and personal bodyguard, Abdullahi Hassan, have claimed that Shekau has since been shot in the lower leg, thigh and shoulder,” the paper went on.
The report said,” Shekau’s exact fate is not known. A video clip recovered from a Boko Haram camp in the Sambisa Forest Reserve in the northeast Nigeria, raided by the military on May 16, shows Shekau limping, providing confirmation of reports he had been shot.
“However, Shekau has been noticeably absent from recent public statements and is not one of the leaders who have engaged with government emissaries. It had been presumed that Shekau chose to voluntarily leave peace discussions in the hands of Boko Haram’s leadership group,” the duo wrote.
