Leader of the dreaded Boko Haram Islamic sect, Abubakar Shekau,No 1 is, indeed, dead, the United States of America has confirmed.
Shekau, who had led the insurgents for over three years after taking over from Mohammed Yusuf since the dreaded Islamic sect declared war against western education in the northern part of the country, especially north east, had killed hundreds of people.
The Nigerian Army had, recently, announced that Shekau may have been killed in July, 2013, in a gun battle. American, on Saturday, concurred after a thorough investigation.
The Council on Foreign Relations, a top US security think-tank and government advisory, made this confirmation after its thorough investigation.
It said it is apparent that the latest video appearance of Shekau was faked.
“In this latest 33 second video, Shekau was even further from the camera and only appeared to speak for just 10 seconds. The latest video, released on Youtube, is perhaps the biggest sham in the history of terrorism media: Latest 10 Second Sham Video of Blurry Ghost of Late Shekau,” the US security think-tank observed.
It said that “this latest sham video clip is very identical to the August video, which was also circulated by AFP, which US Council on Foreign Relations discredited as that of an imposter, except it has a black drape over the old background and Shekau’s image appears to have green-light peripheral shine around it, indicating super-imposition.”
The report said the older video was also of highly questionable authenticity, adding: “It appears ‘Shekau’ did not wish to risk thorough investigation of “his” video clips and hence, he made it as blurry, as distant from the camera and as short as possible. 10 seconds only, enough time to say five words and quickly brush his ghost teeth!”
In another development, relieve came the way of victims of Boko Haram insurgencies yesterday, with a promise by the Federal Government to assist them.
President Goodluck Jonathan said a committee would soon be set up to thoroughly look and work out the form of assistance that would be given to the Boko Haram victims.
Speaking at the 44th anniversary of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor’s establishment of his ministry and the 26th Jubilee Word Festival 2013 of Word of Life Bible Church, Warri, with the theme “Recover All”, the president said there was no way adequate compensation could be paid to the victims of Boko Haram.
“The word compensation was too vague, that is why I was ambiguous about my statement. I don’t want to send wrong signals to the world that is why I oppose the word compensation.
“We may not be able to compensate them adequately but we are going to assist them in ensuring that they pick the bits and pieces of their lives again.
On the issue of non-payment of pensions to military retirees, Jonathan, who was accompanied to the occasion by the governors Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Jonah Jang (Plateau), assured that the problem would soon be resolved, adding “we are working hard to settle their arrears.”
He recounted the efforts of his administration to reposition the country again, noting that the transformation agenda was on course, stressing that tremendous work had been done in the power sector to energise the nation’s economy.
“I can assure you that tremendous work has been done in the power sector and by the first quarter of next year, there will be relatively stable supply of power in the country. Nigeria, being the largest Black Country in the world, will never experience power outages again,” the president added and solicited for cooperation of all Nigerians.
He commended the leadership quality of Oritsejafor as President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), noting that he brought dynamism into that office.
Jonathan noted that, but for the church, the country might have gone into oblivion, adding “The consistent prayers by the church are what has been sustaining and holding the country together. They pray day and night and that is why we are where we are today.”
Founder of Word of Life Bible Church and President of CAN, Oritsejafor, had commended Jonathan for being the first sitting president that went on holy pilgrimage to Israel and also signed a bilateral agreement with the country.
He also showered praises on the National Assembly for extending the state of emergencies in the three northern states, though he acknowledged that there had been significant improvement in security situation in the area.
He, therefore, appealed to security agencies to re-strategise in their operation in the affected states and also pleaded with the elites in the region to cooperate with security agencies in finding a lasting solution to the problem of insurgencies.
ORIGINAL ABU SHEKAU KILLED
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