units to track down the wanted Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau,
there are firm indications that he may have fled Nigeria through the
help of Islamic State (ISIS) groups operating in East and North
Africa.
The Sun reported that Shekau is on the run following the recent loss
of the sect's caliphate headquarters in Gwoza, to Nigerian troops and
the invasion of Sambisa Forest by a detachment of the nation's special
force units deployed from their base in Makurdi, Benue state.
According to dependable military intelli-gence sources who disclosed
these details to the media outfit, Shekau had to send representatives
to ISIS affiliates with strongholds in East and North Africa to pave
the way for his escape to their region, from where he intends to
coordi-nate his group's activities or ultimately relocate to ISIS
headquarters in the Middle East.
One of the sources disclosed that"having discovered that he was being
tracked through his Thuraya satellite phone, Shekau recently dropped
the line and handset totally to evade capture. But the last satellite
image of him and other intelligence pieced together by forces on the
battle frontline show his desperation to es-cape from the country to
parts of East Africa or North Africa where ISIS is having some
foot-holds."
The military chief also stated that"as part of moves being made by
Shekau, he now relocates with few-er guards and limited number of
lieutenants knowing his movement schedule. This is to frustrate
intelligence gathering efforts by se-curity forces and avoid
attracting the focus of satellite image capturing technology deployed
by some foreign super powers and shared with the Nigerian security
forces."
In an attempt to es-cape the heat of on-going military operations in
North-East Nigeria, Shekau reportedly has in the last few weeks
changed his physical ap-pearance dramatically.
"A recent intelligence from one of our foreign partners shows the Boko
Haram leader clean shaven which total-ly alters his look. That
heightens our curiosity about his motive, before we got other evidence
that pointed to the fact that he was trying to cross the border",the
source added.
Reports also indicated that Shekau had stayed in crisis-ridden
Northern Mali to coordinate the training and opera-tions of its
members before they were flushed out by a joint French and Af-rican
force as well as Nigerian troops.
He, however, crossed the porous border to join his foot soldiers in Borno State.
"He may not find it easy to return to Mali this time round but we
suspect he may be targeting East Africa or parts of North Africa such
as Libya and Egypt where some islamist groups are causing instability
now,"the senior military chief said.
However, he admitted that he cannot categorically say whether Shekau
had indeed escaped or was still in the country.
"On whether he has successfully escaped from Nigeria, I have no such
information but at the same time I cannot rule that out because of his
level of desperation to flee and his links with some other groups
with-in the region and even beyond", the source stressed, adding:"What
we strongly believe at this moment is that he is still within our
reach or that of our neighbours; especially Niger and Chad. He may
find it difficult to move beyond these borders and may end up
returning to one of our remote villages in the North-East to hide."
The source also stated that Shekau had told some of his close
lieutenants that he would rather die from gunshot from his guards than
being killed by the Nigerian troops whom he regards as"infidels."
"One of his captured commanders once disclosed that Shekau had given
instructions to his personal guards to shoot him dead in the face of a
confrontation with our troops who he calls infidels. He believes that
makes him a martyr,"the source added.
When contacted on the information that Shekau had fled the country
between the last week of March and the first two weeks of April, the
acting director of public rela-tions of the Nigerian army, Colonel
Sani Usman, said,"We have an ongoing war against ter-rorists in this
country and we are determined by all means and what it takes to
eliminate, capture all terrorists and destroy all their known camps.
"If in the process, any of their leaders is captured, so be it because
the whole war is not about an individual. We are also deter-mined to
arrest all of them dead or alive.
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