The Nigerian military had, after a series of battles with Boko Haram members, announced that it not only killed scores of the militants but also captured some of their commanders. But last Monday, the military said it was investigating what it described as emerging fact then that Bashir Mohammed, the terrorist commander who had been posing as Shekau in the recent videos by the deadly sect, was the one killed in Konduga on 17 September.

•The Chibok girls in captivity

The military had based the suspicion on what it described as the striking resemblance between Shekau and the corpse of one of the Boko Haram commanders killed in their custody. Also cited as pointing to the fact that the dead militant leader was Shekau were the facial marks, beard and teeth of the deceased. In addition, the military also announced the capture of some of the armoured vehicles and Hilux SUVs that had featured in some of the recent video recordings of Shekau released to the public. Even as it said it was investigating, the Defence Headquarters was also quick to dismiss the Cameroonian military’s claim, stressing that “There was no raid whatsoever by Cameroon or any foreign forces in any part of Nigeria’s territory in pursuit of terrorists as claimed in some reports allegedly quoting Cameroon military authorities,” in its twitter handle. “All operations ongoing in the environs of Konduga and all associated border locations within the country are completely being undertaken by Nigerian troops,” it added.

There were also claims that Shekau was killed when he showed up in Konduga after the military pressured some of his men captured during their over seven-hour battle with the military on 17 September to call and inform him that they had been successful in the battle with the Nigerian troops. Convinced by his militants, Shekau was said to have embarked on the trip to Konduga, but was encircled by the military on his entry to the town. Though he was said to have ordered his militants to engage in sporadic shootings in a bid to escape, Nigerian troops who were waiting for him succeeded in bringing him down. The Nigerian security forces have maintained that the Shekau allegedly killed last week was an impostor and perhaps, the second member of Boko Haram to assume the name and lead the insurgent group after the death of Mohammed Yusuf, the original founder of the deadly sect, in 2009.

Shekau, A Diary Of One Year Of Brutal Deeds
But even if the Boko Haram leader killed last week was the one that had been appearing in video recordings of the sect, even from June last year when the former user of the ‘Shekau’ identity was allegedly killed, there is no doubt that his leadership of the sect was the most callous for those living in North-East particularly and Nigeria in general. Under his leadership, Boko Haram sect became, perhaps, the most violent terrorist group in the world, with even some of the global precursors of the group in the business of fundamentalist Islamic ideology dissociating themselves from some of its actions they deemed too atrocious.

While speaking of the atrocities that has been committed by the Islamists at the United Nations Security Council High-Level Meeting on the Threat of Terrorism to Global Peace and Security in New York last Wednesday, President Jonathan admitted that over 13,000 people have been killed by members of Boko Haram, communities have been razed, and hundreds of persons kidnapped, the most prominent being the girls from Chibok in the course of their five-year insurgency.

Many Nigerians, especially those living in the North-East, would probably put the figure of lives lost to Boko Haram higher. But some of the biggest atrocities committed, by which the group has succeeded in attracting attention to itself, have taken place in the past one year with the new ‘Shekau’ in charge.

For one, records indicated that Boko Haram attacks on villages in the three North-east states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe resulted into nearly 4,000 deaths in the first four months of 2014. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, had also recently indicated that the battle for control of Nigeria territory between the insurgents and the Nigeria military has brewed a disastrous humanitarian crisis for the sub-region, with over 10,000 civilians living in the epicentre of the recent clashes in the North East fleeing into neighboring Niger and Cameroon, while about 645,000 have been displaced internally.

The U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice programme had last year placed a reward of up to $7 million for information that can lead to location of Shekau. This was not a surprise, given atrocities perpetrated by the group. Under the Shekau that was allegedly killed penultimate week, the Islamist group, which has as its original name, Jama’atu Ahlul Sunnah Lih Da’awa wal Jihad (JAS), has literarily sought to bring into force the meaning of its corrupted name, Boko Haram (Western education is sin), with attacks on educational institutions and killing of teachers and students who are sometimes minors.

Under this Shekau, the group moved from just burning schools – over 200 schools have been burnt by the insurgents especially in Borno and Yobe State – to killing students and teachers. The group had on 29 September 2013 attacked the male dormitory of the College of Agriculture in Gujba, Yobe State, killing 44 students and teachers. Also, on 25 February 2014, over 50 boys, mostly teenagers, were killed while 24 buildings were burnt when the deadly sect attacked Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, Yobe State, in the dead of night. Boko Haram militants who barged into the college while the students were sleeping, according to eyewitnesses, threw explosives into dorm rooms amidst gunfire, while students trying to climb out of the windows were caught and slaughtered like sheep by the terrorists.