Boko Haram leader dismisses Nigeria Military claims as 'lies'

Nigeria’s military on Saturday claimed further gains in its
counter-offensive against Boko Haram, but the group’s
shadowy leader Abubakar Shekau dismissed the talk of
success as “lies”.
Army spokesman Sani Usman said troops
destroyed more rebel enclaves and camps in the
restive state of Borno, which has been worst hit
by the six-year Islamist insurgency.
“The fight against the terrorists in the northeast
is gaining successful momentum, with most of
the camps falling to the Federal might,” he said
in a statement.
A total of 62 people were rescued from around
the town of Gwoza, which last year Boko Haram
declared the headquarters of its caliphate but
which it lost control of in March.
Some 77 men, women and children, most of
them “haggard, dejected and obviously
malnourished”, also arrived in the town of
Bama on Saturday, Usman said.
One man picked up said he had his right hand
cut off by militants in their Sambisa Forest
stronghold in Borno last year, he said, adding
that eight Boko Haram suspects surrendered to
troops.
Nigeria’s military has claimed a series of
successes against Boko Haram recently and on
Friday said it had rescued 90 people and
dislodged Boko Haram from two villages near
Gwoza.
President Muhammadu Buhari in early August
gave his new military commanders three
months to defeat Boko Haram, after six years of
violence, at least 15,000 dead and more than two
million homeless.
Shekau has not been seen on video since
February and until an audio message last month
had not spoken since March, when he
proclaimed Boko Haram’s allegiance to the so-
called Islamic State group.
His absence sparked fresh rumours about
whether he was still alive or had been deposed
as leader, with other videos this year fronted by
an unknown rebel under the name Islamic State
in West Africa Province (ISWAP).
Shekau said in a 25-minute recording in Hausa
and Arabic via social media: “They (the military)
lied that they have confiscated our arms, that
we have been chased out of our territories, that
we are in disarray.
“We are alive, I am alive, this is my voice, more
audible than it was before. This is Shekau.”
He added: “Buhari is a liar and has deceived
you. The army spokesman is also lying. He and
his footsoldiers always run helter-skelter
whenever we come face to face with them…
“Buhari, you once claimed that you will crush us
in three months. How can you crush us?”
Shekau directly refers to IS group leader Abu
Bakr Al-Baghdadi, to whom he says he is “loyal
and subservient”.
He also namechecks IS spokesman Abu-
Mohammed al-Adnani and sends “greetings to
the faithful in Yemen”, where there is also an IS
“affiliate”.
There was no indication of where or when the
recording was made but it appears to have have
been in recent days.
Shekau talks of Buhari’s “deal with Hollande”,
referring to the Nigerian president’s three-day
visit to Paris earlier this week, which included
talks with his French counterpart Francois
Hollande.
He also dismissed as untrue Buhari’s comments
about “our brethren in prison”.
Buhari this week said the Nigerian authorities
were talking to Boko Haram prisoners in their
custody and could offer them amnesty if the
group hands over more than 200 schoolgirls
abducted last year.