The Islamic State militant group says its West African affiliate, Nigeria-based Boko Haram, has a new leader.
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Nigeria is leading an offensive against Boko Haram, with 8,700 troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, and Benin.
As translated on SITE Intelligence Group in the Islamic State newspaper, al-Nabaa, the newspaper identified al-Barnawi as the new “Wali, ‘ or governor, of its West Africa Province”.
He has also been accused of sometimes extending his brutal punishment to family members of Boko Haram fighters all in a bid to teach his followers a lesson.
Before 2015, a swathe of land in northeast Nigeria around the size of Belgium was under the control of Boko Haram, but the group was pushed out early previous year by Nigerian government forces and its allies.
Barnawi’s blood link to Yusuf gives him an advantage over Shekau who has no blood ties to Yusuf.
But the group has become fractured under his leadership, experts said after the Al Barnawi interview was released.
That assessment came days after USA officials said they had seen no evidence that Boko Haram had so far received significant operational support or financing from ISIS militants, concluding the loyalty pledge had so far mostly been a branding exercise.
“As far as we are concerned, what Boko Haram or their cohorts are doing is of no relevance to our operations against them”, he said.
But Shekau dismissed Barnawi as an infidel who condoned living in an un-Islamic society without waging jihad.
And a Nigerian security analyst said he believed Shekau was still alive, but that ISIL may be seeking to clean up Boko Haram’s reputation among extremists by ousting a leader seen as disorganised and unreliable.
Furthermore, al-Barnawi said that Boko Haram “remained a force to be reckoned with” and that it had been bringing in new recruits.
Others have said that foreign funding to back the government’s fight against Boko Haram has been diverted towards controversial political issues.
Not much is known about what has become of Abubakar Shekau, former leader of Boko Haram.
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19-year-old Amina Ali Darsha, one of the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014, was found wandering in the Sambisa Forest area of Borno state in May, 2016.
