In the report translated by SITE Intelligence Group, al-Barnawi said his group “remained a force to be reckoned with” and said it had been drawing new recruits – all of whom had vowed to to fight “Christianization of society”.
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When he appeared in a Boko Haram video in January 2015 as the group’s spokesman, he wore a turban and his face was blurred out and it was filmed as a sit-down studio interview.
A Nigerian security analyst told the news agency AFP on Wednesday that Shekau was seen as disorganised and unreliable, and that IS’s announcement of a new leader may be an attempt to clean up Boko Haram’s reputation among jihadists.
In an interview published by the ISIL newspaper Al Nabaa on Wednesday, Barnawi, the ISIL appointee, threatened to bomb churches and kill Christians while ending attacks on mosques and markets used by Muslims.
Not much is known about what has become of Abubakar Shekau, former leader of Boko Haram.
“Don’t believe the cheap propaganda by the global terrorist group ISIS, which has reportedly named a new leader for Boko Haram”. “We are still in the cause of Allah and will never depart in the struggle to establish an Islamic caliphate”, Shekau said in the 10 minute recording.
Established in 2002, Boko Haram initially focused on opposing Western-style education.
Two of the purported leaders of Boko Haram are apparently pitted against each other in a power struggle within Islamic State’s west African affiliate.
The agenda of the militant outfit is to establish an Islamic caliphate in Nigeria.
“Has this resource pressure created more of an opening for the Islamic State to a gain stronger foothold and influence?”
In the past, Shekau constantly saw the need to reassure Nigerians and the world of his existence and leadership of the group.
At the time, Boko Haram was the most powerful military force in northeast Nigeria, controlling a huge area and was better equipped and motivated than Nigerian forces.
In numerous videos, Shekau taunted the Nigerian authorities, celebrating the group’s violent acts, including the abduction of the more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls in April 2014. A was released by the group that declared that the girls have been sold or forced into marriage with their abductors. She was found pregnant and traumatised and was brought to Chibok.
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Chadian troops have ventured onto Lake Chad, a Boko Haram stronghold, and say they are taking back ground from the Islamist group, undermining their seven-year campaign to carve out a Nigerian caliphate.
