New video by Abubakar Shekau? Read Nigerian Military’s reaction

The Nigerian military has described as fake, a new video purportedly released by “Abubakar Shekau” wherein he tried to debunk his killing during a battle in Konduga on September 17.

In the latest video, just released by the Islamist terrorist group, Mr. Shekau spoke at length on his reported death in a 36-minute video. The video was originally obtained by the French news agency AFP.

Shekau was reported to have said in the video that his sect had instituted sharia rule across areas captured by his fighters in the northeastern parts of Nigeria. Last month, Boko Haram militants captured several towns including Gwoza which the group named as its headquarters.

But the Nigerian military authorities insist that Bashir Mohammed, alias Abubakar Shekau was actually eliminated as corroborated by still photographs, video evidence and surrendering of captured terrorists.

But independent investigations by PRNigeria reveals the anger by the military hierarchy at the propensity of some news media, especially foreign based ones to fall for the antics of Boko Haram propaganda.

A top source in Abuja told PRNigeria that the new video purportedly released by “Abubakar Shekau” was still being carefully studied but urged Nigerians to continue to have confidence in the ability of their military to contain terrorism in parts of the country, and to keep strict vigilance on their environment so as to report suspicious activities to appropriate authorities.

The reaction of Defence Headquarters titled; “The Purported Shekau Video in Circulation” was as posted on defence information blog defenceinfo.mil.ng. It reads:

“The Defence Headquarters is studying the claims made in the video purportedly released by the terrorists showing their leader, Abubakar Shekau as dismissing his death. From immediate observation and what some online news outlets claimed to have seen, the video did not indicate when it was shot neither did it show any proof of life or currency such as screen time or date. The video also did not make any reference to anything that has happened since the impostor’s reported death.

“It is also noteworthy that the air plane said to be mentioned in the video had been missing before he was killed. It should not surprise anybody if the terrorists decide to manipulate pictures, clone another Shekau or upload a pre-recorded video all in a bid to prove invincible.

“As far as we are concerned, the individual who was appearing in video and claiming to be the leader of the terrorist group was killed in the Kondunga battle in September. The resemblance of the corpse and that of the eccentric character was incontrovertible. His identity was equally corroborated by people who knew him before we announced his death.”