We have killed Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau — Nigerian Military

The Nigerian military on Wednesday issued an official confirmation to reports that Abubakar Shekau, the eccentric leader of Boko Haram, whose death the military has claimed repeatedly only to turn out untrue, has been killed by security forces.

Officially, the military insists the real Mr. Shekau was killed by soldiers more than a year ago, but that his character had been assumed by another leader of the deadly group.

The impersonator is the man who appeared in several Boko Haram propaganda videos, claiming he is Mr. Shekau, the military said.

It was that new face of Mr. Shekau that was killed in a fierce clash with the military last week in Konduga, near Maiduguri, Borno State, defence spokesperson, Chris Olukolade, said Wednesday.

That man, Mr. Olukolade said, was Mohammed Bashir, known also with several aliases.

The statement Wednesday was the first official confirmation of the death of Mr. Shekau since news broke last week he had been killed in a confrontation as militants moved to attack Maiduguri.

While the Nigerian military, unofficially, laid claims to the killing of Mr. Shekau, its Cameroonian counterpart also claimed credit for it saying Mr. Shekau was killed at Gamboru near the border.

The Nigerian military rejects that claim.

Mr. Olukolade said the alleged Shekau’s double was targeted amongst other leaders of the group in Konduga when the military’s land and air forces engaged a convoy of combat vehicles conveying several militants.

“Several of the terrorists, including some of their commanders, lost their lives in the encounters which lasted an average of about 5 hours each,” the defence spokesperson said.

“The troops captured some of the terrorists and their equipment. In the course of those encounters, one Mohammed Bashir who has been acting or posing on videos as the deceased Abubakar Shekau, the eccentric character known as leader of the group died.

Mr. Olukolade said after the clash, the identity of Mr. Bashir was confirmed by the locals in Konduga. Mr. Bashir’s other names he said included Abubakar Shekau, alias Abacha Abdullahi Geidam alias Damasack.

“Since the name Shekau has become a brand name for the terrorists’ leader, the Nigerian military remains resolute to serve justice to anyone who assumes that designation or title as well as all terrorists that seek to violate the freedom and territory of Nigeria,” the military said.

Mr. Olukolade said 135 other terrorists on Tuesday evening surrendered along with equipment to troops around Biu Local Government Area.

A group of 88 submitted themselves at Mairiga/Bun – Yadi while another group of 45 terrorists were taken in around Mubi – Michika. They are all being interrogated and processed in conformity with the dictates of standard best practices.

“The Defence Headquarters applauds the gallantry of the Nigerian troops who have remained undaunted and professional in prosecuting this campaign against terror,” he said.

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military aircraft missing

A Nigerian air force jet has been missing for two days after disappearing in the country's far northeast, where troops are fighting Boko Haram insurgents, the military has said.

A search and rescue operation was under way for the Alpha jet which was on a routine operational mission on Friday over Adamawa state when contact was lost with the aircraft, the Nigerian armed forces said in a statement.

The aircraft, with two pilots on board, left its base in Yola, Adamawa, at about 0945GMT on Friday and had been expected back by midday the same day.

"Since then all efforts to establish contact with the aircraft have not yielded any positive result," military spokesman Chris Olukolade said in a statement, without providing further details.

Boko Haram has seized territory in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states in recent weeks, raising fears about a loss of government control in the far northeast and putting the military under pressure to put an end to the five-year-long armed movement.

Nigeria's military, backed by war planes, has been fighting to push back recent advances by Boko Haram into the north of Adamawa state and also towards Maiduguri, the state capital of neighbouring Borno state. The army said it beat back an attack outside the city of Maiduguri on Friday.

Boko Haram, which has killed thousands since it launched its anti-government rebellion in the northeast in 2009, has in recent weeks captured and held a string of towns and villages in the region, a departure from its usual hit-and-run tactics.

Its leader, Abubakar Shekau, is apparently trying to follow the example of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, which has declared its own caliphate. Nigeria's government has vowed to take back the seized territory from Boko Haram.

BENJAMIN ADEKUNLE: THE BLACK SCORPION IS DEAD

YEMI OLAKITAN

Retired General of the Nigerian Army, Benjamin Adekunle, popularly known as Black Scorpion died yesterday, Saturday morning. According to reports, his wife, Folake announced his death.  Adekunle was born in Kaduna. His father was a native of Ogbomosho. He underwent secondary education at the government college, Okene , Kogi State. He enlisted in the Nigerian Army in 1958 after completing his school certificate examinations.  He passed the army selection examinations and thereafter was dispatched to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the UK, the British Army's initial officer entry academy. He was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant on December 15, 1960. As a platoon commander, he served in Kasai Province of Congo with the 1st Battalion, Queen's Own Nigeria Regiment.  In 1962, Lt. Adekunle became Aide-de-Camp to the governor of the eastern region, SirAkanu Ibiam. The following year, as a Captain, he was posted back to the Congo as Staff Captain.  In 1964, Major Adekunle attended the Defense Services Staff College at Wellington, in India. When he returned he was briefly appointed Adjutant General at the Army Headquarters in May 1965 to replace Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon, who was proceeding on a course outside the country. However, he later handed over the position to Lt. Col. James Pam and was posted back to his old Battalion (1st Bn) in Enugu as a Company Commander.

Adekunle  assumed command of the Lagos Garrison as a substantive Lt. Col. When the Nigerian Civil War erupted in July 1967, Adekunle was tasked to lead elements which included two new battalions (7th and 8th) - to conduct the historic sea borne assault on Bonny in the Bight of Benin on 26 July 1968 (carried out by Major Isaac Adaka Boro's unit). This happened after the Federal Government gained confidence of most south western ethnic groups as a direct result of Biafra push to mid-west state and probe into Western region. Adekunle was promoted to Colonel after the Bonny landing.

The 6th (under Major Jalo) and 8th (under Major Ochefu) battalions of the Lagos Garrison subsequently took part in operations to liberate the Midwest following the Biafra invasion of August 1967. The 7th (under Major Abubakar) stayed behind to hold Bonny. Because Major Jalo's Unit was seconded to Lt. Col. Murtala Mohammed's 2nd Division, Adekunle was left with only the 8th Battalion at Escravos. He, therefore, protested to Army HQ and got the Lagos garrison upgraded to Brigade status through the creation of the 31 and 32 Battalions. However, Colonel Adekunle did not think the name "3 Infantry Division" was sensational enough nor did it project the nature of the unique terrain in which his men had to fight. Therefore, without formal approval from Army HQ, he renamed it the " 3 Marine Commando (3MCDO)." The "Black Scorpion" as he came to be known, was easily the most controversial, celebrated and mythologized figure in the war of attrition that laid the foundations for Nigeria's contemporary crisis; and threw a wedge into the national fabric. Benjamin "Adekunle's boys in the Midwest seized Escravos, Burutu, Urhonigbe, Owa and Aladima. They captured Bomadi and Patani, Youngtown, Koko, Sapele, Ajagbodudu, Warri, Ughelli, Orerokpe, Umutu and Itagba".

Benjamin Adekunle was promoted to Brigadier in 1972. After the war Adekunle was put in charge of decongesting the Lagos port that was having a chronic problem of clearing imported goods. He held this position until being compulsorily retired on August 20, 1974.

He attributed his problems during and after the war to his rivals in the army. In various interviews, he said there was always a rumor of coup linked to him until the army authority felt the concern to do something about it. He had large followings in both the army and public at large and was the most popular military commander during the war, apart from Obasanjo, who succeeded him and brought the war to an end with the same 3MC.

Adekunle led the Third Marine Commando Division with such great panache and determination that the foreign media, in looking for a human angle on the Biafran war, found him a ready source of news.

Adekunle was a key champion of the food blockade to Biafra. In a wartime interview he had with Randolph Baumann of Stern Magazine in Igweocha (published on August 18, 1968), he stated:^[3]

He died on September 13, 2014.

The late General Benjamin Adekunle who died this morning at the age of 78 has been described as a Soldier’s Soldier, a man of valour and unimaginable bravery, lion-hearted and a leader of men who served his Fatherland devotedly and without question when the country most needed him.   Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos and All Progressives Congress, APC, national leader, paid tributes to Adekunle, alias Black Scorpion, in a statement he issued today.