Buratai Gives Army 40 Days To Capture Shekau
Tukur Buratai, Chief of Army Staff, has told the theatre commander of operation Lafiya Dole, Ibrahim Attahiru, that he and his men has 40-days to capture Abubakar Shekau, leader of the Boko Haram sect.
Buratai in a statement on Friday by army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Sani Usman, directed Attahiru to use all arsenal at their disposal to “smoke out Shekau wherever he is hiding in Nigeria”.
“Today, Friday 21st July, 2017, the chief of army staff, Nigerian army, lieutenant general Tukur Yusufu Buratai, has directed the theatre commander, operation lafiya dole, major general Ibrahim Attahiru, to capture Abubakar Shekau, the so-called and self-styled leader of Boko Haram terrorists group, dead or alive,” the statement read.
“The theatre commander has further been directed to do so within 40 days.
“He is to employ all arsenal at the disposal of the theatre command to smoke out Shekau wherever he is hiding in Nigeria.
“The general public is please requested to also assist and volunteer information that would lead to the accomplishment of this task.”
Abubakar Shekau, also known by the alias Darul Akeem wa Zamunda Tawheed, served as deputy leader to the Boko Haram founder, Mohammed Yusuf, until Yusuf was executed in 2009.
The Nigerian military believed that Shekau was killed in 2009 during clashes between security forces and Boko Haram until July 2010, when Shekau appeared in a video claiming leadership of the group.
The military has declared him dead on many occasions, but the terrorist leader has always debunked the report, and is thought to use body doubles.
In March 2015, Shekau pledged allegiance to ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Shekau claimed few months back that his was somewhere within Maiduguri.