Boko-Haram named Al-Barnawi as new leader to replace Shekau's.

There are indications that the Boko Haram sect may have announced a new leader, to replace Abubakar Shekau who, the military insists, has been killed. A report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said the local terror group named Abu Musab al-Barnawi, as its new leader in the latest edition of the Islamic State (IS) magazine. What is not clear, however, is whether this al- Barnawi is the same with the one the Department of State Services (DSS) had said it arrested a few months ago.

The suspect was alleged to have masterminded the bombing of the United Nations (UN) Building in Abuja, in 2011. New Telegraph could not confirm the status of Al-Barnawi, as the DSS has yet to announce a new spokesperson, since the forced retirement of Mrs. Marilyn Ogar. Little is known about al-Barnawi, who appeared in a Boko Haram video in January 2015 as the group’s spokesman He wore a turban and his face was blurred out and it was filmed as a sit-down studio interview. Unlike Shekau, al- Barnawi’s delivery in the Hausa language was softly spoken.

Shekau was often filmed in the open, surrounded by fighters, loudly proclaiming his threats, victories and giving rambling ideological lectures. However, Barnawi pulled no punches, warning that towns, which resisted Boko Haram in its mission to create an Islamic state, would be flattened.

He also spoke of being against democracy and foreign education. In his most recent magazine interview, he again objected to the name Boko Haram, by which local people call the group, as it means, “Western education is forbidden” in Hausa. He maintained IS was still strong in the region and promised to continue fighting West African governments.

The Nigeria Defence Headquarters had, in September 2014, announced that the self-acclaimed leader of the Boko Haram sect, Mohammed Bashir, alias Abubakar Shekau, had died in an encounter with troops at Konduga in Borno.

However, the same Shekau or his look alike continued to release videos claiming that he was alive and not dead. In numerous videos, Shekau taunted the Nigerian authorities for their seeming inability to track him down, just as he celebrated the group’s violent acts including the abduction of the more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls in April 2014.

The last of such videos was in April 2016, where Shekau appeared for the first time in more than a year to dispel rumours about his death. This time, it was a dejected-looking Shekau that appeared, taunting and denouncing Nigerian military and political leaders. Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army has announced the arrest of a high-profile Boko Haram suspect, one Mohammed Zauro.

The Army, in a statement by its spokesman, Col. Sani Usman, said the suspect was arrested in Damboa Local Government Area of Borno State, as he made an attempt to flee the Sambisa forest. Usman also disclosed the arrest of another sect member, who he said had claimed that he was on his way to surrender to the state, when he was apprehended. “Similarly, troops also intercepted another suspected Boko Haram terrorist, Lawal Aboi, along Damboa- Bale road,” the Army said.