Islamic State Jihadist group, ISIS, has announced a change of leadership in the Boko Haram militants group.
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The website reported that Abu Musab al-Barnawi, who was previously spokesman for the insurgent group was featured in the latest issue of an IS magazine as the leader of the insurgent group which has its origin in Nigeria.
Shekau was last heard saying he was alive and had not been replaced in an audio message in August past year, the BBC reported.
Also, in March 2016, Boko Haram was believed to have released a video featuring Shekau.
Its seven-year insurgency has left over 20,000 people dead, mainly in the country’s north-east. It had broken away from Boko Haram because it disagrees with the indiscriminate killing of civilians, especially Muslims.
There was no immediate reaction from Nigerian authorities or Abubakar Shekau on the implication of the story.
This came after the military claimed to have killed him in an encounter.
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Is Boko Haram repositioning itself? This raised questions over whether the IS link had been of any benefit. But the group recently carried out several attacks against regional governments. A United Nations convoy was also ambushed last week in north-eastern Nigeria.
