3rd May, 2015
Where is Abubakar Shekau, the bearded leader of Nigeria’s Islamist insurgent group, Boko Haram?
His fate is now unknown since Nigeria launched an offensive, with the collaboration of Chadian, Nigerien and Cameroon forces in February this year.
As the coalition forces liberated one town after another and pushed the militants into Sambira Forest, no trace has been found of Shekau, who Nigeria claimed to have killed several times.
In early March, Chadian president Idriss Deby Itno said his troops have an idea where Shekau could be hiding, after Chadian troops dislodged the militants from Dikwa, said to be the insurgents’ communications centre.
Shekau, or a man claiming to be him, last appeared in a video in February when Boko Haram claimed a major attack on the town of Gombe and threatened to disrupt Nigeria’s elections, then rescheduled to begin 28 March.
Thereafter, in March, a man claiming to be Shekau appeared in an audio, pledging allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, ISIS.
Nothing has been heard of him since then, even after Nigerian troops drove the militants out of Baga and Gwoza, said to be the headquarters of the deadly group, that once declared an Islamic Caliphate in stolen Nigerian territory. The Boko Haram militants appear now to be holed inside Sambisa Forest, pelted daily by air strikes from Nigeria’s air force.
The disquieting silence from Shekau has triggered speculations that he has either been seriously injured in battle or he has been killed.
Olukolade said hunting for Shekau was “not the major element” of Nigeria’s collaboration with Chad, which retook Baga from Boko Haram.
“The sensational idea of looking out for one individual should not distract us or hold us down.”
The bigger picture appears to be to free every inch of Nigerian territory from Boko Haram.