MAIDUGURI: The Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) militant group said in an audio recording heard on Sunday that Abubakar Shekau, leader of rival Nigerian militant group Boko Haram, was dead.

Shekau died around May 18 after detonating an explosive device when he was pursued by ISWAP fighters following a battle, a person purporting to be ISWAP leader Abu Musab al Barnawi said on the audio recording.

“Abubakar Shekau, God has judged him by sending him to heaven,” he can be heard saying.

“Shekau preferred to be humiliated in the afterlife than getting humiliated on earth, and he killed himself instantly by detonating an explosive,” he said.

Two people familiar with Al Barnawi said the voice on the recording was that of the ISWAP leader.

A Nigerian intelligence report shared by a government official and Boko Haram researchers have also said Shekau is dead.

Last month, Nigeria’s military said it was investigating Shekau’s alleged death, also reported in Nigerian and foreign news outlets. The audio statement, first obtained by local media, is ISWAP’s first confirmation that its arch rival in the Lake Chad region has been killed.

The militant Islamic State group further said it “is consolidating the whole area, the Lake Chad region and (Shekau’s stronghold),” said Bulama Bukarti, an analyst specialising in Boko Haram at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.

“ISWAP had framed Shekau as the problem and he was the only person they wanted to remove,” Bukarti said of the IS’s attempt to lure Boko Haram commanders and fighters to their side.

Gain for ISWAP

Shekau’s death could lead to the end of a violent rivalry between the two groups, enabling Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) to absorb Boko Haram fighters and consolidate its hold on territory in north-eastern Nigeria, political analysts said.

That would allow ISWAP to focus its attention on the government and military, whose war efforts are languishing.

Boko Haram’s leader was reported to have been killed on several occasions over the last 12 years, including in announcements by the Nigerian military, only to later appear in a video post.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2021