I’m alive, says Shekau in new video

The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, has described as “propaganda,” the claim by the Defence Headquarters that he was killed early September in Kodunga, Borno State.

Shekau, in a new video obtained by Agence-France-Presse on Thursday, boasted that “nothing could kill him” until the day Allah stopped his breathing.

He also claimed in the 36-minute video that Boko Haram fighters shot down the Nigerian Air Force fighter jet   which was reported missing three weeks ago by the Defence Headquarters.

Last week, the Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, told a news conference in Abuja that troops killed Shekau and that his corpse   was identified by the people of Kodunga.

Olukolade illustrated his claim with pictures of the bullet-ridden corpse with Shekau’s semblance and a video of the battle in which he was killed.

He had also said that Shekau whose real name he gave as Mohammed Bashir   had   other names like Abacha Abdullahi Geidam and Damasack.

A day before the DHQ claim, a   newspaper, quoting a military source, reported that Shekau was killed by Cameroonian soldiers during aerial bombardment of his hideout in Nigeria.

The Cameroonian newspaper also printed pictures of a bullet-ridden corpse of a man it said was the Boko Haram leader.

A former United States   Ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell,   however questioned the credibility of the Nigerian military’s claim.

Campbell said, “Who knows whether Shekau is alive or dead? The question may not matter much. As Boko Haram’s resurrection after the killing of its genuinely charismatic leader, Mohammed Yusuf, shows, the movement is remarkably resilient, and not dependent on a single leader.

“If Shekau is alive, as I suspect he is, evidence is scant as to what his actual role in the movement’s leadership is. Boko Haram is more than Abubakar Shekau, alive or dead.”

In the new video,   Shekau is seen standing in front of three camouflaged vans and flanked by four heavily armed and masked fighters.

He wore   combat fatigues and black rubber boots and firing an anti-aircraft gun into the air, Shekau spoke for about 16 minutes in Arabic and   Hausa languages widely spoken in most parts of northern Nigeria.

But there was no indication of where or when the video was shot.

Denouncing his killing by the military, the heavily bearded Boko Haram leader, who appeared to be the same as those in previous clips, said “I hereby put to lie the claim that I was killed.”

“Here I am alive. I will only die the day Allah takes my breath,” Shekau said amidst thunderous shout of Allahu Akbar “Allah is great” from his well-armed lieutenants.

He consequently taunted the military, saying it had nothing to prove its claim.

He said, “I challenge you(military), I challenge you. You even said I was killed. If you kill me, does that mean you kill (the) religion? You are not honest. You have no proof, you have nothing to say.”

The Boko Haram leader boasted that the wish of President Goodluck Jonathan; President Barack Obama of the United States; Prime Minister Francois Hollande of France; Queen Elizabeth and the United Nations Secretary General, Ban-ki Moon, for his death would not materialise.

He said, “The wish of Obama (United States President) will not kill me, the wish of Francois Hollande (of France) will not kill me, the wish of Benjamin Nattanyahu (of Israel) will not kill me, the wish of Ban-ki Moon(of the United Nations) will not kill me, the wish of Queen Elizabeth will not kill me, the wish of the infidels of the world will not kill me, much less of President (Goodluck Jonathan) , much less of Kashim (Shettima of Borno State ) , much less of Bra-Bra (Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Geidam).

“Nothing will kill me until my days are over. Do whatever you want to do. If you think what I’m doing is not the truth, even if you don’t fight me I will crumble.