In Nigeria, the word “Boko Haram” is synonymous to the name “Shekau”. However as popular as the name is, no one seems to know too much about the man called Shekau.
Abubakar Shekau
According to Dailymail, Shekau is a boastful lunatic, master of disguise who glories in killings and untold sorrows that come from it. The bloodthirsty Abubakar Shekau is said to be one of the world’s most wanted men, even American authorities have a$7million bounty on him.
Abubakar Shekau can communicate in four different languages (Arabic, Hausa, Fulani and Kanuri), major reason why he is able to carry out his teeth-gnashing operations under a variety of different names, thus the increase in mystery surrounding who he really is.
Shekau, who does not usually communicate directly with members of his group is an extreme Islamist fanatic. He has led his brutal Boko Haram militants since 2009 into war in Africa, killing more than an estimated 16,225 people in that time. Instead of communicating directly, he prefers to rather talk with a trusted few who then relates it to other members of the group. A total semblance of how former Al Qaeda terror chief Osama bin Laden worked.
According to various files on the US State Department of Justice, Shekau has operated using different names like, Darul Tawheed, Abu Bakr Skikwa, Imam Abu Bakr Shiku, Abu Muhammad Abu Bakr Bin Muhammad Al Shakwi Al Muslimi Bishku and Abubakar Shakkau.
Abubakar Shekau.
From all records, Shekau’s age can only be predicted to be either 38 or 49. He has a wife and
three children, although their whereabouts are unknown. The Nigerian
military has claimed several times to have killed the fanatic – only for
him to appear in new videos proving he is still alive.After one recent
claim, he appeared in video to taunt the military’s claims and laughed:
‘Here I am, alive. I will only die the day Allah takes my breath.’
Although Boko Haram means ‘Western education is
forbidden’ in Arabic, but alas, the insurgent group has shocked the
world with its merciless slaughter of innocent men, woman and children
all across northern Nigeria.
It is also believed that Shekau escaped from the
Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital in the Nigerian city of Maiduguri
during the 1990s.The mental illness was said to have been triggered by
the sudden death of his wife during childbirth. This is evident in one
of his first videos, believed to have appeared online in 2012, when the
insurgent leader boasted of his bloodlust and said:
‘I enjoy killing…the way I enjoy slaughtering chickens and rams.’
Going back memory lane, he is said to have come
from Shekau village that borders Niger to poor farmer parents. They are
then thought to have migrated south into northeast Nigeria. He was a
religious young man, he studied basic Islamic theology, before focusing
on more hardline Sunni ideology and becoming a preacher.
“He was an easy-going fellow who would
exchange banter with people in the neighbourhood. He was popular… as a
local theology student,” said Grema Kawudima, from the Mafoni area of the city, in a September 2012 interview.
Abubakar Shekau
Another local, Butari Gwoni said Shekau married
the daughter of a teacher, but his wife died in childbirth, triggering
what some said was latent mental illness. He began “exhibiting signs of mental imbalance” after his wife’s death, said Gwoni.
After his religious studies, he is then
understood to have attended Borno State College of Legal and Islamic
Studies for higher studies on Islam. He became increasingly radicalised
and seized control of Boko Harem after founder Mohammed Yusuf was killed
in a security crackdown on the terror group in 2009. Since then, Shekau
has pursued a relentless campaign of terror as the group has
strengthened its deadly grip in Nigeria.
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