Boko Haram new commander Bakura Modu
ABUJA, June 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Nigeria’s Boko Haram jihadist group has installed a new commander following the death of its leader, Abubakar Shekau.
In a short video in Arabic, Boko Haram presented its new commander Bakura Modu known as Sahaba.
In the video, Modu read a statement, calling on his faction’s commanders to remain loyal despite the loss of their leader.
The Nigerian army has yet to comment on the development opting to remain silent when initial reports emerged of Shekau’s demise in April.
Shekau, who gained notoriety after kidnapping nearly 300 schoolgirls in 2014, killed himself last month rather than surrender after IS-allied rivals attacked his base camp in Nigeria’s northeast Borno state, security sources said.
The undated Boko Haram video shows Bakura flanked by scores of armed fighters in formation as he addresses the camera, in what is traditionally a jihadist group’s way of presenting a new leader.
“Commanders of Jama’atu Ahlu Sunna Lidda’awati Wal Jihad. Be steadfast and draw your swords, spreading your jihad, decapitating the enemy,” he said, using the official name of Shekau’s Boko Haram faction also known as JAS.
“Don’t allow what befalls you these days to weaken your resolve on the jihad your are waging, because Allah has not forsaken your efforts.”
He also urges Boko Haram commanders to reject ISWAP commander Barnawi.
Soon after the initial reports of Shekau’s death last month, infighting between Nigeria’s two rival jihadist factions intensified. ISWAP fighters moved against Boko Haram commanders who refused to surrender and join their ranks, intelligence sources have said.
The two factions have skirmished in the past since ISWAP split from Boko Haram in 2016, objecting to Shekau’s indiscriminate targeting of Muslim civilians and use of women suicide bombers.
Bakura’s faction is one of the Boko Haram elements operating in the Lake Chad area where they have access to porous borders with Chad and Niger.
But analysts and security sources have said Barnawi would face potential resistance from hardline, pro-Shekau factions along Nigeria’s border regions.
ISWAP fighters have taken over Shekau’s stronghold in the Sambisa forest in their bid for consolidation.
More than 40,000 people have been killed and over two million displaced from their homes in fighting since the conflict in northeastern Nigeria began in 2009. — NNN-AGENCIES
