An audio message has emerged of Nigerian-based Islamist militant group Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau, in which he denies he has been replaced.
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The renewed battle has also shown that President Buhari was right in directing the relocation of the military’s command and control centre from Abuja to Maiduguri.
Cummings believes Boko Haram may be an umbrella movement comprising many disparate factions rather than a monolithic organisation and says internal rivalries “would be no means be a new development for the sect”.
The jihadist militia, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, has waged a violent campaign for a separate Islamic homeland in the northeast which has seen more than 15,000 deaths since 2009.
“There is someone apparently called Mahamat Daoud who is said to have replaced Abubakar Shekau and wants to negotiate with the Nigerian government”, Deby said recently, according to Daily Post Nigeria.
Boko Haram was founded in 2002 to oppose Western-style education. “Shekau is alive and leads ISWAP or BH”, he wrote on Twitter.
Although the militants have lost their strongholds, they are still active and there has been an upsurge in suicide attacks since Mr Buhari took office.
But taunting both the Nigerian leader Muhammadu Buhari and Chad in his message, Shekau said: “Gratitude be to Allah and with his help, I have not disappeared”.
It is unknown which Nigerian army units will get the equipment, but the report said that the US government had confirmed that deliveries were pending. Traditionally, insurgent groups cannot and do not attempt to hold on to real estate, and the specialized conditions which allowed ISIS’ territorial gains in Iraq and Syria do not exist in Boko Haram’s African heartland.
Chad vowed it would crush Boko Haram following deadly attacks in the capital N’Djamena that killed dozens earlier in June.
Andrew Noakes, coordinator of the Nigerian Security Network of analysts, cautions against relying on Deby as a credible source on Boko Haram’s internal machinations, however.
But even with the liberation of the town, many who fled during its capture by Boko Haram refused to return for fear that the terrorists might have hidden in the numerous mountains and hills surrounding the town.
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And second, Deby has identified a successor.
