Controversial death: 5 times BH leader Shekau has been killed

Is Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, dead or alive? This is one issue that has been trailed by controversy.

Shekau has been killed or fatally wounded no fewer than three times by Nigerian security forces but he always manages to ‘resurrect’. He appears to be ‘the cat with nine lives.’

News of his death has surfaced more than three times and every time, he resurfaces days or moths later in video or audio recordings, claiming to be alive and well.

Shekau who is believed to have been born between 1965 and 1975 in Yobe state, took over as leader of Boko Haram after the founder, Mohammed Yusuf, was paraded and then executed in front of a crowd by Nigerian security forces.

Under his leadership, Boko Haram has killed thousands of people and displaced more than 2 million.

The minute Shekau is killed, another Shekau is emerging, leaving one to wonder how many Shekau’s there are. Will Shekau ever die?

In the past, the military said Boko Haram was using look-alike fighters to impersonate the supposedly dead Shekau.

It is difficult to say whether Shekau is dead or alive or the terrorist sect is using what may be a rotating cast of “Shekaus”. Nigerian military claimed to have killed Shekau on different occasions though it has never been verified and has often come under question.

As the controversy over his demise continues, Legit.ng brings you 5 times Shekau has been reported killed but manages to return from the dead.

READ ALSO: Nigerians react to fatal injury sustained by Abubakar Shekau

1. In 2009: Rumours of Shekau’s death by security forces surfaced in 2009. He was reported to have been killed along with 1000 other Boko Haram members, including his boss, Yusuf and key financier Alhaji Buji Foi. But the report was proven wrong as he re-emerged in a video in July 2010 and took responsibility for most of the sect’s attacks.

2. In 2011: There were reports of his killing by security agents in Kano after an exchange of fire in a Kano neighbourhood in 2011.

3. In 2013: An army spokesman announced that Shekau may have died between July 25 and August 3 during a shoot-out with security forces. He was said to have died of gunshot wound received in an encounter with the Joint Task Force troops in one of their camps at Sambisa Forest on June 30, 2013”. The statement from the JTF on his death said: “Shekau was mortally wounded in the encounter and was sneaked into Amitchide, a border community in Cameroon for treatment from which he never recovered.”

However, on August 4, a day after the period Shekau was believed to have died, suspected members of the Boko Haram launched an attack on two military camps in Mallam Fatori border village. Afterwards, a video was released by the insurgents in which Shekau was seen taking responsibility for recent attacks carried out by the sect.

4. In 2014: Nigerian and Cameroonian sources provided video evidence that a Boko Haram commander named Bashir Muhammed, who ‘doubled’ as Shekau and took up the mantle of leadership after the real Shekau died in unclear circumstances in 2013, was killed in Konduga in Borno state. Nigerian and Cameroonian army were locked in an argument over who killed Shekau and where he was killed.

On September 24, 2014, Nigerian army claimed it killed Shekau, during a raid on Konduga on September 17.

Photos of Shekau were made public by the Cameroonian army alongside a statement claiming he was killed during a cross-border raid deep inside Nigeria by its military.

READ ALSO: SEE photos and video of the airstrikes that wounded Shekau

However, Shekau resurfaced again an another video debunking claims that he had been killed. He said: “Here I am alive. I will only die the day Allah takes my breath.”

5. In 2016: Once again, report surfaced on Tuesday, Augusts 23, that Shekau was “fatally wounded” during an unprecedented and spectacular air raid.

“Those Boko Haram terrorists commanders confirmed dead include Abubakar Mubi, Malam Nuhu and Malam Hamman, amongst others, while their leader, the so-called ‘Abubakar Shekau’, is believed to be fatally wounded on his shoulders. Several other terrorists were also wounded,” Sani Kukasheka Usman, spokesman of the army, had said.

Is Shekau really dead or he’s being impersonated?

Source: Legit.ng