It’s like the dreaded Islamic sect’s leader,
Abubakar Shekau is dead.
Shekau’s reported death is contained in the account of
some of the survivors of an attack of the sect on Mainok on Friday, as
they said they were afraid of returning to the town “because we are told
the insurgents are mad as a result of the killing of their leader,
Abubakar Shekau, in Konduga.”
Over 300 people were killed
when the insurgents attacked Mainok market on that Friday in what was
believed to be a retaliation of the leader’s death as villagers were in
the peak of trading on the market day.
A local, Modu Jakana, who
narrowly escaped that attack, told Sunday Tribune that the insurgents
came in from all angles, “shooting the people as if they were exchanging
fire with the military. We don’t know how we escaped, but we were so
lucky. They were so determined to kill everybody. I saw so many corpses
while we were running for dear lives. At the main road, vehicles that
were on top speed also killed so many people as there was confusion
everywhere.
“This morning, some of our people told us that over
300 people, including some of the insurgents, were killed because we
learnt that the military came and engaged them in a fierce fight.
According to senior military and intelligence sources, “it is getting
more certain that the terrorists’ commander who has been mimicking
Shekau in those videos is the one killed in Konduga on September 17,
2014.”
Also, PRNigeria said the suspected demise of the
Boko Haram leader is responsible for the scattering of the sect members
in different independent locations in the neighboring countries,
especially in Cameroon noticed in recent days.
The security
sources did not deny the suspicion but cautioned that “the process of
confirming that the dead body we have is the same as that character who
has been posing as Shekau is ongoing. He is definitely a prominent
terrorist commander. I don’t want to say anything about this yet
please.”
Another high ranking military source insisted that the
resemblance is too striking to be a coincidence. They cited his facial
marks, beards and teeth apart from the recovery by the Nigerian troops
of some of the Armoured Vehicles and Hilux jeeps that had featured in
previous videos of the prime suspect.
The officers assured that
the Defence Headquarters will soon address the nation after full
investigation of their latest discovery.